Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher has announced that the team will continue to support Suryakumar Yadav despite his poor form. This comes after the five-time champions suffered their second consecutive loss in the ongoing IPL 2023. After an eight-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their tournament opener, the Rohit Sharma-led side bowed down in front of Chennai Super Kings at home on Saturday. One of the major concerns for Mumbai’s dry run so far has been Suryakumar’s lean patch with the bat.
At the Wankhede Stadium, the top-ranked batter in T20Is scored just one run before he was sharply caught-behind by Dhoni. “We’ll back him and try to set him some new challenges to get his mind off his own game if that’s what will help him to try to get some good form going into the middle and end stages of the tournament,” Boucher said after the game. The former South African wicketkeeper also stated he does not want to put too much pressure on him.
“Surya is an extremely talented cricketer, one of the world’s best T20 cricketers, 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 is just the game of cricket. Sometimes you go through little patches where you struggle for form,” added Boucher.
Meanwhile, after the game, SKY was seen taking batting tips from former India skipper Dhoni, the picture of which went viral. Suryakumar Yadav has scored just 16 runs in his last five innings (ODIs and T20s) that included three consecutive golden ducks. It is important to note that despite his poor form, the team management is still backing him to come good in the tournament.
