Me golpeó mucho

Suryakumar Yadav shared that missing out on selection for the limited-overs tour of Australia in 2020-21 was a tough moment for him, prompting a break to reassess his approach. However, he turned the setback into motivation, delivering one of the most iconic performances in Indian Premier League history. Fueled by determination, he played a match-winning knock of 79 off 43 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, guiding Mumbai to a crucial victory.

“It was an emotional knock because just a few days before, the team for the Australia tour was announced,” he said on the Suryakumar Yadav Experience show on JioHotstar.

“I had been building up for this over the past few years — my domestic season and IPL 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.

Took a break: Suryakumar Yadav

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 Zaheer Khan could see it too,” he said.