The best news for Mumbai Indians in their five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 22 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 was the welcome return to form by middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav, the player with the ability to hit 360-degree shots, who can tear any attack to shreds on his day.
Suryakumar, who was in great form last year in white-ball cricket, becoming the top batter in ICC rankings and earning comparisons with the legendary South African batter AB de Villiers had endured the ignominy of scoring zeroes in three consecutive ODIs against Australia in March and had poor IPL 2023 with dismal scores of 15, 1 and 0 before finding form with a 43 on Sunday.
His 25-ball 43 and Ishan Kishan's 58 helped Mumbai Indians overhaul Kolkata Knight Riders' score of 185/6 built on a blazing 51-ball 104 by Venkatesh Iyer as Mumbai won by five wickets.
Suryakumar said he thought he could put up a good score if he took his time and got his eyes in.
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"I took my time in the first five-seven balls and thought if I could get my eye in I could get a score. We know that if the top order gives a good start, what kind of firepower we have lower down the order," said Suryakumar after the match.
The batter said Mumbai Indians had a chat in the dugout before the match that they had to carry on the momentum gained from the last match, a 6-wicket win against Delhi Capitals.
"We had a chat in the dugout that we had to carry the momentum from the last game and the boys put on a show. I would have loved to finish the game but nevertheless, I was very happy with the way the team played," he said.
SKY said the wicket looked a bit dry in the afternoon but settled down in the evening.
"In the afternoon we thought the wicket was a little dry, but the way the guys batted it settled down in the evening. At the Wankhede in day games, 160-170 is a good score but Kishan got us off to a great start," said Mumbai Indians skipper.
This was Mumbai's second successive win in four matches and they now travel to Hyderabad for their next match with Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday (April 18).
Mumbai Indians, who had endured a 0-8 start in IPL 2022 as they finished towards the bottom with four wins from 14 games, will be hoping to continue with the momentum in Hyderabad and move up the standings.
