'Very difficult to bowl to him': MI pacer Akash Madhwal on Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav during his 103 not out on Friday. Pics/Ashish Raje

More plaudits have come Suryakumar Yadav's way after his outrageous 49-ball unbeaten 103 (11x4, 6x6) helped Mumbai Indians (MI) outclass defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) by 27 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

The way he holds sway over opposition bowlers and wields his punitive blade has had even the most articulate of experts struggling for adjectives to describe the Suryakumar Yadav way of batting.

Akash Madhwal celebrates a GT wicket on Friday

So what's this destructive batsman like in the nets? MI pacer Akash Madhwal (3-31), who along with ex-India leggie Piyush Chawla and left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya, helped restrict Gujarat Titans for 191-8 in response to MI's 218-5, touched on the subject in reply to mid-day's query on Friday night. "What he [Suryakumar] trains for in the nets, he is able to execute [the same] in the game. It is very difficult to bowl to him [in the nets]. I have also played a practice match against him. Watching him bat is special. I have not seen a player like him," said Madhwal, who plays state cricket for Uttarakhand.

Madhwal, 29, dismissed David Miller (41) and both Gujarat openers, Shubman Gill (6) and Wriddhiman Saha (2) early.

In reply to MI's 218-5, GT's Rashid Khan's 32-ball 79 not out (3x4, 10x6) went in vain as Hardik Pandya's team lost.

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Early struggles

Though Suryakumar is leading MI's run charts with 479, he was struggling for runs in the initial stage of the tournament. And before the start of IPL-16, he endured three consecutive ducks against the visiting Australians in a three-match ODI series last March. His poor form continued in the IPL with scores of 15, one and zero against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals respectively. But he shrugged off those forgettable outings remarkably. Gujarat's assistant coach Ashish Kapoor had nothing but praise for the opposition batter who lit up the Wankhede with Sachin Tendulkar witnessing his brilliance.

"[It was] an absolutely brilliant knock. He [Suryakumar] played smartly. We were expecting [left-arm spinner] Noor [Ahmad] to get him out, because the way he played him and got out to him in the previous game. Even today [Friday] he did not take chances against him [Noor]. But once he was set, you all know what Surya can do. When a guy is in that kind of form, it is very difficult for the bowlers. These kind of batsmen put bowlers under a lot of pressure. You don't know how many sixes they are going to hit every over, forget the innings," remarked Kapoor, the former India off-spinner.

‘Rashid is an all-rounder'

Meanwhile, Kapoor underlined how his team's Afghanistan leggie Rashid falls into the all-rounder category. "Rashid almost pulled it for us. Maybe with one or two good overs upfront, we would have got closer. He is a top-class player, there is no doubt about it. People look at him as a leg-spinner, but he has proved that he is a top all-rounder at least in this format," remarked Kapoor.