Suryakumar Yadav had sacrificed his No. 3 slot for young Tilak Varma in the national side, but the Mumbai Indians’ stand-in captain on Saturday dropped hints that he could bat at his familiar position, saying they have a flexible batting order. Suryakumar, India’s T20 skipper, will be leading MI in the opening match as regular skipper Hardik Pandya is serving a one-match ban over-rate related offence during the previous edition.

Asked if he would again promote the flamboyant Tilak above him in the MI batting set-up, Suryakumar replied: “So you might see guys being flexible during this season, during this stint with the IPL. And everyone is flexible. Even I can bat at 3, I can bat at 5, Tilak can bat at 5. So it’s that flexibility we have in our team.”