‘Let’s do some smart work from here' - Suryakumar Yadav recalls his transition period which helped him in India call-up

Suryakumar Yadav has been a revelation since coming into international cricket and he has shown that he belongs to the Indian team. The 32-year-old had to wait for a long time to get his Indian call-up but he has managed to solidify a spot in the XI once he arrived. With an average of more than 40 and a blistering strike rate of 177, Suryakumar is India’s top ranked T20I batter at the moment.  

The right-hander has played a lot of impactful innings and has adapted to any kind of role given in the side. His consistency has been a baffling factor with the number of balls he gets to face and he has a big role to play in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. Speaking on how he changed things around, Suryakumar highlighted how he shifted from hard work to smart work. 

In 2020 my body was completely different: Suryakumar Yadav 

Suryakumar recalled the conversation with his wife Devisha in the 2017-2018 season when the need of hour was smart work rather than hard work. He further noted that the talk was about trying different things in training and working on the off-side game. He also mentioned that the dieting helped him to look a lot more fitter in 2019 and 2020 domestic seasons and in a way, got his maiden national call up in 2021. 

“After 2017-18 me and my wife, Devisha, sat down and decided, let’s do some smart work from here on. You have worked hard, you have come this far, let’s do something else and we will see what happens,” Suryakumar told ESPNCricinfo’s Cricket Monthly. 

“I started training in a different way. After 2018 I realized what I needed to work on in my game. I started batting more towards the off side. I started dieting. Did a few things which really helped me in the 2018 domestic season and 2019. And going forward, in 2020 my body was completely different,” Suryakumar Yadav added.