The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 returned with much fanfare, but the five-time champions Mumbai Indians had a rocky start, losing to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first game. However, their star batter, Suryakumar Yadav, has been struggling with poor form lately. He was dismissed for just 15 runs in the opening game, following his lacklustre performance against Australia earlier in the year. In response, AB de Villiers, a legendary South African cricketer, stepped up to offer advice on how Surya could improve his form.
AB said:
“He (Surya) is probably in that phase now where he needs to do something. But the secret of it all is not to panic and not to change your game plan. He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years.”
He further added:
“Yes, maybe, he can try and remember ‘what are my basics’ or ‘what did I do very well when I was just consistently scoring runs’ and because obviously he took his game to a completely different level.”
It is not a bad thing just to come a level down: AB
De Villiers had more advice for Surya, suggesting that he shouldn’t be concerned with meeting others’ expectations. The South African cricketer also pointed out that sometimes it’s okay to take a step back.
“It is not a bad thing just to go down a level and spend a little time in there before you pop out again. You cannot always score 100 off 40 balls; it is not always going to happen,”
AB continued.
“That is something I had to learn the hard way with the Chinnaswamy crowd. They were expecting me to score a hundred in every game. I sometimes had to tell myself, You know what, AB, let’s be honest here, you are not reading the ball very well. Just make sure you go run-a-ball and give Virat the strike, or just get someone else on’. And then slowly and surely I get one good shot, and then I am back in the game’,”
He concluded.
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