Suryakumar Yadav a cornerstone of the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad encountered difficulties at the crease during the IPL 2024 fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday May 11. Unusually off his game in terms of timing he failed to achieve a strike rate exceeding 100 despite facing more than ten deliveries.
KKR batted first in the rain-shortened encounter at Eden Gardens, scoring a respectable 157/7 in 16 overs. Venkatesh Iyer (42), Nitish Rana (33), and Andre Russell (24) all contributed useful knocks for the Knight Riders.
MI then raced to 59/0 in five overs, with to an aggressive inning by Ishan Kishan (40). However, he left in the following over, sending Suryakumar Yadav onto the crease. Things went poorly for MI in the following few overs, as they lost all of their momentum from the powerplay due to calm overs from the KKR spinners.
Suryakumar Yadav died in the 11th over while attempting to break free from his restraints, following a sluggish knock of 11 (14). Suryakumar Yadav attempted to knock the slower short ball outside off stump from Andre Russell over the deep square leg region. He couldn’t attain the ideal timing on the hit, resulting in a simple catch for fielder Ramandeep Singh.
Watch the dismissal in the video below:
MI lost their path when Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed, making it a critical point in the hunt. Tilak Varma (32) and Naman Dhir (17) did their best with cameos, but the goal was finally out of reach. MI could only score 139/8 in 16 overs, losing by 18 runs.
MI Captain Hardik Pandya Reflects on Loss Against KKR in IPL 2024
Following the match on Saturday, MI captain Hardik Pandya commented on the loss, saying:
“It was a tough one. As a batting unit, the foundation was quite there, post that we couldn’t quite capitalize and build the momentum and that costed us, the wicket was a bit tacky.”
Hardik Pandya
He added:
“It was par, given the conditions, I felt the bowlers did well, kept a check on the run flow but eventually it looked like a winning total. Nothing to be very honest, just go out there and enjoy, I don’t think we’ve played enough good cricket this season.”
Hardik Pandya
MI’s IPL 2024 season will conclude with a match against LSG on May 17 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.