It's important that Suryakumar Yadav's works back into full fitness for T20 World Cup preparation: Tom Moody

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody spoke on Suryakumar Yadav coming back to form with the T20 World Cup in mind after the flamboyant batter smacked a 53-ball 78 against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on April 19 in his team's nine-run win. Suryakumar played the long game and batted until the 17th over and received good support from Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma during his stay in the middle. It was largely on the back of his innings that the visitors managed 192/7 before the bowlers restricted Punjab batters.

"Yeah it's important that he slowly works back into full fitness, he needs to be playing for the whole 40 overs and that would be great. Not that he bowls or anything but for his own peace of mind and fitness for that the preparation for what is beyond the IPL," Moody said on Star Sports Cricket Live.

"It was a great innings today and his chat in the middle of the innings talking about how unsure he was about the surface and how as a team they would want to make sure that all their top order batters are still there till the 17th over so, clearly losing Rohit Sharma at that point he had to take up the responsibility. So that took it a little down from his normal strike rate which is 160-170. But still at 150, who wouldn't take 150?," he added.

Moody also shared his thoughts on Jasprit Bumrah’s performance who extended his stellar bowling form and reclaimed the Purple Cap. Bumrah was expectedly the most economic bowler on either side, scalping three wickets for just 21 runs in his quota. He struck twice in his opening over to send back makeshift opener Sam Curran cheaply while only two deliveries before that Bumrah's searing inswinging yorker shattered Rilee Rossouw's stumps. Bumrah later returned to get Shashank Singh out at a time when he was threatening to take the game away alongside Ashutosh Sharma. 

Also read: In T20 format, when the ball swings for the first two overs, you do want to make an impact: Jasprit Bumrah

“He's at the peak of his powers at the moment. The ball that he bowled to Rilee Rossouw is as good a ball as any, a right-arm over ball, as he bowls to a left-hander. I don't care whether you're Rilee Rossouw or Brian Lara, you're not laying back on that. That was an absolute peach of a delivery. Again, Mumbai leading on him so much to turn their fortunes around. He bowled two overs early on and had the Punjab Kings on their back. But interestingly enough, he didn't bowl another over until the 13th over. And that's my point of where I think the Mumbai Indians let the Punjab Kings back into this contest. Coetzee and Bumrah for mine, and I'll be interested to hear what the other fast bowlers think on this show. Should have bowled again to be able to put Punjab completely out onto the campus,” Moody said.

Former South Africa bowler Dale Steyn spoke on Mumbai Indians bowling performance. 

"It's a tough one because we want to see them close out games early by bringing Bumrah back or Coetzee. But then they have to depend on guys like Hardik to finish off, who hasn't been bowling as well of late and some of the other bowlers travelling like [Romario] Shepherd, they may struggle in the back end. So, it really becomes like where do you use these guys?

"I agree that when you've got a team four down in the powerplay, you want to close down the play, you want the run rate to get higher and higher, until it's a point where it's impossible to get. Once you allow teams to get going back again, 10-12 an over can be achievable even if Bumrah is available. So, you kind of want to close down the game. Mumbai are in a situation now where they have to tactically figure things out, but they also need somebody to step up, their bowlers to step up and really help out Bumrah and Coetzee, because if they keep going the way they are, they might lose more points again."

Steyn also spoke about Ashutosh Sharma’s performance last night. The youngster single-handedly kept his team in the hunt despite the early setbacks had seemingly pushed Punjab out of the game. He struck seven sixes and two fours in his entertaining 28-ball 61, which included a sweep for a six behind square off Bumrah's free hit.

Also read: It was my dream to hit a sweep shot off Jasprit Bumrah: Ashutosh Sharma

“Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, IPL never ceases to disappoint us with close games and creating new heroes. And this is somebody that we might be talking about for the next few years after a knock like this. And we spoke about earlier, or I certainly mentioned, that sometimes it requires one ball to get a team on the roll," said Steyn.

"And Bumrah bowls a no-ball, and the next thing Ashutosh goes down and plays that sweep that goes for six. And everyone seems to jump up and sit on the edge of their seats and think, what are we witnessing? Could we be witnessing something new, something new to Indian cricket? So, phenomenal knock. Yeah, I feel for him, because if he got his team over the line, it would have been the kind of catalyst that could have kick-started Punjab's IPL. But now you kind of feel like what this might send, the message it might send to the dressing room is that they're going to struggle to get themselves going in this IPL. But it doesn't take away the knock that Shashank and Ashutosh played tonight.”