I still have got that hunger to play for India in future says Suryakumar Yadav

Mumbai’s senior regular middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav seeks definite and consistent performances in the domestic season as a route to receive his maiden call-up to the national side. He seems to have regrouped and refreshed some of his old skills and techniques in order to improve as a player to keep par with the modern day high-pressure games. The right-hander was in a splendid form in recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where he scored 217 runs in eight matches at a healthy strike rate of close to 190 and has also been delivery consistent performances in the league stages of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018 in which he has amasses 295 runs in the six games so far.

I developed this hunger only from the last year

After contributing significantly in the domestic tournaments in the last year, Yadav feels to have developed the natural hunger to score runs and win the match for his team. He seems to have realized the right type of mindset needed to be successful in the limited overs format. Yadav is also aware of the fact that he has quite a good array of shots in his armory which he could unleash at the right stage of the game.

“I’m still hungry to play for India, but, I’ve shown that hunger only in the last year or so. You can say: ‘Der aye, par durust aye. (Better late than never). I analyzed my game in limited-over formats before the start of this year’s edition of the Mushtaq Ali T20. I realized that there were very few games in which I’ve helped my team win a match. So, my focus was to correct that trend. I wanted to stay until the end for me and the team’s sake. I know that if I stay around, I have the strokes to help my team win,” said Yadav in a conversation with TOI.

Yadav brought a change in his routine preparation

The 27-year old Mumbaikar will be playing a crucial role for his state team in the upcoming knockout games of the Vijay Hazare Trophy starting from February 21 in Delhi. He also shared some facts about the modification which the cricketer brought in his daily preparation routine before every game. The Mumbai senior batsman has analyzed his weak points in the last couple of years.

“Rather than thinking about the results, I began to focus on the process. Obviously, my natural game is attacking, but the idea was to curtail risky shots and try to stay till the end. I practiced in the nets accordingly,” he added.