Suryakumar Yadav revealed that not getting selected for the limited overs tour of Australia in 2020-21 hit him pretty hard and he had to take a break to put things in perspective. The snub, he said, also helped spur him on to produce one of the most memorable knocks in Indian premier League history against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru where he scored 79 off 43 balls to help Mumbai clinch the win.
“It was an emotional knock because just a few days before, the team for the Australia tour was announced,” he said on the Experience show on JioHotstar.
“I had been building up for this over the past few years — my domestic season and were going really well. I had prepared myself well for this season, even taking time during the Covid break to work on my body and mental health. I expected to be in the T20 squad. Everyone around me, including teammates from other countries, thought I’d be flying to Australia. I was already on that flight, mentally. But when I wasn’t selected, it hit me hard. I couldn’t understand what went wrong,” he added.
The current India T20I captain also revealed that he had to take a break to deal with the situation.
“I started thinking in a reverse way, I thought what and where it went wrong. For the next 2-3 days, I didn’t speak to anyone. I took a break and didn’t even practice. I knew my mind and heart were not in the right place, so I decided to relax instead. When I returned to the ground, people noticed I was off, and Mahela Jayawardene and could see it too,” he said.
SKY, who is ranked No 5 in the world, said post 2020 he went back to the drawing board to invent new ways of making runs.
“The T20 format has changed a lot in the past few years — scoring rates, strike rates, everything. Earlier, I used to bat at a strike rate of 140–150, but post-2020, I realised that to be the best, I needed to evolve. I went back to the drawing board, worked on match simulations, and started practicing shots that would help me stay ahead of bowlers and captains,” he said.
“From 2021 to 2024, I focused on exploiting specific areas, finding scoring options where I could also minimise the risk. Everything I do in matches now, I’ve already practiced. I try to replicate those sessions exactly,” he added.
