Mark Boucher, head coach of the Mumbai Indians (MI), expressed hope that Suryakumar Yadav, who had performed poorly during the three-match ODI series against Australia at home and had struggled in the two matches of the IPL so far, will eventually find his form. After scoring a mere 15 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and just one against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 8, Boucher spoke about Suryakumar Yadav’s current situation at the post-match press conference. Mark Boucher stated:
“Suryakumar is an extremely talented cricketer, one of the world’s best T20 players, if not the best. He has not had the weight of runs of late, but he is a fantastic player. Hope he can come good for us in the near future. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him.
“We all know what he can do. That’s just the game of cricket. Sometimes you go through little patches where you struggle for form. He added, “We’ll back him and try set him some new challenges to get his mind off his own game if that’s what will help Suryakumar to try get some good form going into the middle and end stages of the tournament.”
“It was their bowling that hurt us at the end of the day”: Mark Boucher
Regarding Mumbai’s two-game losing streak, Boucher noted that the team had not put enough runs on the board. The ex-South African wicketkeeper-batsman believed that Mumbai Indians should have achieved a score of around 190. Mark Boucher stated:
“(Ajinkya) Rahane played some good cricket shots, but it was their bowling that hurt us at the end of the day. Look at our bowlers and their batters. We have not had enough runs on the board.
“In the game of T20 cricket, especially now when we have impact players, we had seven batters today. For us to make 157 was not good enough on that wicket. We probably should have got 180-190.”
“He picked up a little niggle. We have got a fantastic medical team. They are looking after him. He is a massive player. Hope he will be back soon.” He further added.
Mumbai Indians will be up against the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday, April 11.