IPL 2020: Suryakumar Yadav has burning desire to play for India - Pollard

Suryakumar Yadav's innings against RCB on Wednesday was a very valuable one for Mumbai Indians, says captain Kieron Pollard.

Kieron Pollard at the post-match press conference on Wednesday. - BCCI/IPL

Suryakumar Yadav is driven by a “burning desire” to don the India blue, Mumbai Indians captain Kieron Pollard said on Wednesday after his team's win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.

REPORT | MI vs RCB

“It (Yadav’s innings) was very, very valuable. We always spoke about one of the top three batters, or top four batters, bat all the way through if you are chasing, go all the way through and win the game for us. He (Surya) has done that more often than not,” Pollard said at the post-match media conference.

”He wants to do well and today again he showed his class on how well he can bat...and deep down inside the burning desire to don that blue, but again he continues to show consistency, which is all that he can do as an individual,” he added.

Yadav was overlooked for India’s tour of Australia despite his consistent run.

Pollard also said that it was a good bowling effort to restrict RCB to 164 for 6.

HIGHLIGHTS | MI vs RCB

“At one point it looked like we were staring at the barrel at 190-200 and I thought we came back really well and to restrict a batting line-up like RCB, with wickets in hands, and the position they were in to 165 was well done to the bowlers.

“Bumrah coming back and getting wickets, Boulty (Trent Boult) as well, Krunal Pandya bowling four economical overs, so again, was a total team effort in terms of the bowl and restricting them was very good for us,” he added.

Crucial wicket

He also conceded that getting AB de Villiers was crucial, else the momentum would have shifted in RCB’s favour.

“Once we got a wicket, our spinners will come into play, and so they did and it worked for us. A couple of overs they got away from us again but we were able to pull it back.

“Luckily, I came on at that time and got the wicket of AB with an innocuous delivery that could have gone straight for six and the momentum would have been straight to them. A bit of luck on our side, but the guys really bowled well,” said the West Indian.

According to Pollard, Mumbai wanted to come back stronger and get two points.

“We haven’t got much time to think about that (possible scenario of five teams could finish with eight wins). Our main game today was to get two points, we went out and played really well to get those two points,” he signed off.

Suryakumar was the difference - Katich Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering knock pushed RCB out of the contest on Wednesday, admitted head coach Simon Katich. “He (Surya) is a very good player, he has had a good tournament and today he was the difference, getting that score and scoring as quickly as he did. [He] put (Yuzvendra) Chahal under pressure, with some good boundaries and sixes,” Katich said at the post match press conference. “There was period there (when they) were 3 for 70 and we looked like we were getting on top but then Suryakumar played a magnificent innings and got the momentum back in their favour pretty quickly after they lost that third wicket and then it was difficult for us to get back into the game,” Katich said. Katich said his team was looking to post a score of around 180 after a good start but the loss of four wickets in a space of 13 balls changed the complexion of the innings. “Mumbai outplayed us when it mattered the most. We did a lot of things well today. the big positive was the two youngsters at the top, (Devdutt) Padikkal and (Josh) Phillipe, got us off to a great start and one stage it looked we are going to get well on top with the bat, but young Josh got stumped, and then it slowed down after that a little bit with the wicket,” he added. “We looked like we were well set with five overs to go, and unfortunately lost four wickets in about 13 balls, so from batting point of view, we felt we were on track to get around 180, which could have been a competitive score, but in the end, 164 wasn’t enough and Mumbai deserve the result,” Katich said. He said the same was the case with bowling, when it failed to grab its chances after Mumbai was three down. “And same with the ball, we did a lot of things well to get them into position where they needed 100 off 60 balls, three down, but we didn’t grab our chances. After the third wicket fell we let some runs in next couple of overs and Mumbai got back into the game. It was a disappointing result but we will bounce back in Sharjah.”