Mahela on Surya: When things aren’t going your way, nothing falls in place
Suryakumar Yadav is going through a phase in his career where nothing is working for him but he has no option but to keep working harder, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene said, firmly backing the senior batter.
Suryakumar, who scored 700-plus runs during the 2025 season, is enduring a rough patch despite leading the country to the T20 World Cup triumph. He has so far totalled 183 runs in nine knocks with a single fifty in Delhi and most of his scores hovered around 20 with hard length deliveries on the body posing a challenge for him.
“If he (Surya) gets a few scores together, I think he will find that rhythm. I think sometimes when things are not going your way, it doesn’t fall in place,” Jayawardene was empathetic while judging Surya’s poor show so far.
“I think it was a pretty good shot (his dismissal off Ramakrishna Ghosh) that went straight to the fielder. I mean it’s one of those things I mean I played enough cricket to understand,” the former Sri Lankan skipper said.
Jayawardene believes that Surya is in a “good space” but then most of his well-timed shots have been caught by fielders stationed at the boundary.
“He’s definitely up for it, he’s in a good space. It’s just that it hasn’t worked like the amount of times he’s got caught on the boundary this season. Even in the last game or the one before that the flick where he got caught so it’s just a matter of time.
“I think he himself is disappointed but just have to keep on working harder,” the coach said.
Bumrah needs support from other end: In case of Jasprit Bumrah, Jayawardene also admitted that he has not been getting the kind of support that he needs from the other bowlers. Bumrah has a double responsibility of stopping run-flow and also getting wickets, which isn’t an easy thing.
“I mean, when everyone’s working together, you are picking up wickets here and there that helps Bumrah to be a bit more aggressive as well, rather than doing a holding job.”
In case of Bumrah, no one can deny the class that he has.
“Like I said. Everyone tend to have a slow season but the class is always going to be permanent. I mean he (Bumrah) bowled brilliantly today but it was unfortunate he could have probably taken a few more wickets. He did go all out.”
“Every cricketer at different stages will keep on pushing themselves, that’s what great cricketers do and it’s just a phase for him. He had a long season work-up and these back-to-back matches as well, so we have to take all that into account,” he concluded.
