Termed as a player to watch out for, Suryakumar Yadav, at a young age, has achieved a lot more than most players dream of, starting with captaining his state side Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy to bagging a lucrative contract with defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
Yadav was an integral part of the Kolkata Knight Riders team that went on to become the champions for the second time in the Indian Premier League last year.
And he started the 2015 campaign in the IPL from where he left last year. Speaking to the official IPL website after his cameo against Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener, Yadav said, “Absolutely right! It is a great head start for us in this IPL. As defending champions there was a lot of pressure on us as to how we will start this tournament. But we have done well to come out winning our very first game.”
“We were just calm throughout the game, because we knew it was our home game and we could handle the pressure pretty well. Each and every player in this team knows his role pretty well and that has also been instrumental in the win.”
Yadav also seemed to be happy after being promoted up the order and his reaction pretty much summed up his excitement batting at the top of the order.
“Today I was promoted up the order and given an opportunity by the captain and the support staff. Any player in any team would like to bat at the top of the order in this format. I am grateful to them for that. The team management has given me a lot of confidence over the last year.
“I have got a great chance here with KKR and I am trying to finish games for the team. I hope I have played my role well for this game and am confident there are many more performances to come,” he said.
Talking about Jacques Kallis’ influence in the team, Yadav stated, “What Jacques Kallis did for the team is unexplainable. He has been a thorough legend for KKR and his national side over the years. He is always there to give the right advice. Kallis just asked me to recall all the games that I had won for KKR in the past. He asked me to have fond memories of the times I have finished games for the side which would help me finish the game as well.”
