Ind vs Ban T20Is – Suryakumar Yadav – ‘Mayank has the X factor, it’s important to treat him well’

Mayank did wonders with his speed of 155km/h in IPL 2024. Playing for Lucknow Super Giants, he won the man of the match award in his first two matches but was ruled out of the tournament soon after suffering an abdominal injury. He has not played cricket since then but Suryakumar said he is back in good shape.

“He definitely has the X factor – it showed when he played franchise cricket,” Suryakumar said ahead of the first T20I against Bangladesh in Gwalior. “He has that extra speed. I didn’t face him in the sticks; our net system was for someone else to face him. But I saw what ability he has and what a difference he can make to the team. From that point of view, I feel he is a good fit in the Indian team and I hope he will do well.

“It is important to treat him well because of the cricket being played. Everyone plays for his country. There was Duleep Trophy recently. So it is important to take good care of him and BCCI is doing that.”

Sunday’s match will be the first international match at the Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium. In fact, the venue has never hosted any domestic cricket. So there is something surprising about the circumstances.

While Bangladesh batsman Towhid Hridoy expected the pitch to be “slow and low” and not have many chances for a high-scoring match, Suryyakumar Yadav had different ideas.

“The stadium looks great,” he said. “We practiced at mid-wicket, only two pitches to go. We didn’t find it low and slow – we practiced all three days. [the match pitch] it shouldn’t be too different.

“For T20 cricket, these are good wickets. There will be good competition [between the bat and ball] but at the same time it looks good [for run-scoring]. The rest we will know tomorrow.

“Yes it’s a new pitch but as we have practiced here for three days, we know what the conditions are like, what the pitch is like, what the pitch is like, what the wind is like, whether the dew stays or not. We will like to play the way we did in the last T20I series and if everyone does their job , you will get the results you want.

Until recently, India had a problem with batsmen not connecting with the ball in white-ball cricket. But that looks set to change now, with India’s T20I squad featuring a host of allrounders and short-term bowling options.

“It’s good if the batsmen can bowl one or two overs,” said Suryakumar. “I don’t think there’s anyone in the team who doesn’t bowl. That gives you a chance to bowl. As you saw in Sri Lanka, Riyan. [Parag] bowled four overs. If someone says he can bowl under pressure, why not.”