'I actually went alone to the beach for the walk' - Suryakumar Yadav on how he reacted after Australia tour snub

Suryakumar Yadav has finally opened up how he felt after the disappointing and heartbreaking snub for the tour of Australia last year. The Mumbai star was widely backed to earn his maiden call-up for India’s white-ball squads to Australia after impressing in IPL 2020 too. Suryakumar has been performing consistently in the domestic circuit as well as in the IPL for years now.

In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that he has been the best finisher in the domestic circuit in recent years. In the 2019/20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he had scored 392 runs at a strike rate of 168 and averaged 113 from four innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20 tournament. Such was his form in the last season that he was also backed to get a chance in the Indian team for the home series against Sri Lanka and Australia in January 2020.

The Indian selectors, however, decided against it. The calls to include him in the national team further increased after he impressed in last year’s IPL too. After scoring 512 and 424 runs in the 2018 and 2019 editions, Suryakumar scored 480 runs in IPL 2020 to help Mumbai Indians win a record fifth IPL title. The selectors, however, did not select him for the tour of Australia.

But Suryakumar was finally rewarded for his hard work and perseverance last week when he was picked in the Indian team for the upcoming T20I series against England. India are scheduled to play five T20Is against the visitors. Both the teams are currently involved in a four-match Test series.

Suryakumar Yadav on his snub for Australia tour

Suryakumar Yadav has revealed just how tough it was for him to accept the snub last year. The Mumbai Indians star has recalled how he went alone for a quiet walk on the beach after failing to earn the call-up. The snub, however, did not affect his desire to score runs. Even after the disappointing turn of events, Suryakumar vowed to let his bat do the talking.

“I actually went alone to the beach for the walk. I told my wife I would be back in an hour. I wanted to think, actually plan out how I would go about it in the next few matches because we had some important matches coming up in the IPL. It was important for me to turn up and win games for our team. I just said ‘give me some time, I will just go for a walk alone and come back, you will see a wide smile on my face’,” Suryakumar Yadav told India Today.

Suryakumar further revealed the support he received from his IPL teammates. He revealed how his teammates walked up to him and advised him to keep working hard.

“And when I came back to the (Mumbai Indians) team room, there were a lot of players sitting there and they actually came up to me and asked me to keep working hard and wait for the right time and opportunity. They told me it would come my way,” recalled the batting star.