Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli’s gesture of acknowledging Suryakumar Yadav’s brilliant knock of 83 off 35 balls on Tuesday has earned him praise for being a true sportsman. Kohli, who has been at the center of a few avoidable incidents in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, including fights with Naveen-ul-Haq and Gautam Gambhir, on this occasion demonstrated the true spirit of cricket by acknowledging Surya’s knock. Mumbai Indians thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in the match at the Wankhede Stadium, and Kohli was just like millions of other cricket fans in awe of Surya’s performance.
Chasing 200 runs to win, Suryakumar put on a blistering stand of 140 with Nehal Wadhera, who made an unbeaten 52, as Mumbai romped home with 21 balls to spare. Mumbai’s sixth win in 11 matches revived their faltering campaign as the five-time champions target a top-four finish to qualify for a playoff berth. Despite being on the losing side, Kohli dared to acknowledge the performance of his opponent who single-handedly took the game away from RCB.
Suryakumar’s blitz, laced with six sixes, was his IPL best and made Bangalore’s 199-6 look a small total after skipper Faf du Plessis (65) and Glenn Maxwell (68) lit up the first innings. Du Plessis, who leads the tournament batting chart with 576 runs, said of Suryakumar, “He is one of the best, isn’t he? When he gets going, he’s really difficult to bowl to. So many options you can’t shut him down. One of the greats of the game at the moment.”
Suryakumar, who had a bad start to the season before hitting form, said, “Much needed from the team’s point of view. I am very happy to win a home game like this.” Opener Ishan Kishan hit a quick-fire 42, but Mumbai slipped to 52-2 when skipper Rohit Sharma fell for seven to extend his batting slump. However, Suryakumar and the left-handed Wadhera soon revived the chase and took the attack to the opposition. Once settled, Suryakumar burst into life to reach his 50 in 26 balls and kept up the charge with a string of sixes and fours.
Suryakumar fell with his team needing eight more to win, and Tim David got out for a duck, but Wadhera hit the winning six to bring up his fifty and finish off the chase. The match demonstrated the risks that teams are taking in the ongoing IPL, with most teams, including Mumbai, taking risks and it paying them rich dividends. The batters are taking risks, and 200-plus scores are being chased. The mindset of the batters is to do something special for the team, and it is coming off as well.
