‘We have no concerns about…’ – Mumbai Indians batting coach opens up on Suryakumar Yadav’s recent form

From three consecutive golden ducks against Australia in the recently concluded ODI series to a poor start to the Indian Premier League 2023, Suryakumar Yadav has had a forgetful month. Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard, on the other hand, is unconcerned about star batter Suryakumar’s form and expects all batters to fire against archrivals Chennai Super Kings in the El-Clasico on Saturday.

After a disastrous ODI series against Australia, Suryakumar Yadav, the world’s No. 1 T20I batter, flopped in MI’s first game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. “We have no concerns about Surya’s form, again. I believe you guys make more of it than we do sometimes within the team setup.

“People have bad days and that is unfortunate as cricketers our bad days are highlighted and we keep speaking on and on about it rather than trying to look at the positive or what he has done over the past 18 months or so in cricket as an individual,” Pollard said ahead of Mumbai’s second match.

Let us see what happens since we are back at Wankhede: Kieron Pollard

Pollard also pointed out that all XI players in the team need to perform and not just one player. “I believe all batters have to fire. I do not think we should not single out any individual. Cricket is played with eleven players, and again, the tournament has just started so everyone is just looking to start (on a) high

“Yes we did not get off to a great start as a batting unit, but in the end, we managed a decent total in Bangalore. Let us see what happens since we are back at Wankhede. We do it on a day-by-day basis and the way he is striking the ball, the way he is training we have got confidence that he will do justice to his talent and we will continue to back him,” Pollard added.

Pollard believes it is critical for MI to focus on the Playing eleven rather than the impact player rule. “To be honest I have not thought much about the impact player rule. A lot of thoughts have been flying around about it but for me, you still have to go out and play cricket, impact or no impact.

“As players, you have to make an impact on the field anyway. For us, it is about focusing on what needs to be done from every individual,” he said.