Suryakumar Yadav was dealing with his first ball towards spin in the course of the Mumbai Indians’ encounter towards the Punjab Kings in Jaipur on Monday.
As Harpreet Brar tossed one as much as the right-hander’s off stump, the 34-year-old planted his left foot ahead, bent down on his knee, and caressed his sweep shot by way of backward sq. leg for a boundary.
“It [The sweep] is considered one of my most favorite pictures, together with the flick,” Surya instructed the broadcasters on the finish of the primary innings.
Nonetheless, Suryakumar confronted simply seven extra balls of spin, none tossed up for the sweep, managing solely seven extra runs. Shreyas Iyer and the Punjab assume tank ensured the MI batter wasn’t served deliveries to his liking. Regardless of his 39-ball 57 at a strike charge of 146.15, PBKS saved Mumbai effectively wanting the 200-run mark, finally easing into Qualifier 1 with a seven-wicket win.
The slog sweep — an aerial model of the normal sweep, normally performed in entrance of sq. — has been considered one of Suryakumar’s go-to pictures this season. He’s performed it 24 instances with a strike charge of 358.33. But towards PBKS, he wasn’t allowed to deliver out his trusted weapon even as soon as.
Equally, his flick shot towards tempo — one other Surya trademark — was successfully neutralised. In IPL 2025, he boasts a strike charge of 220.58 with this shot. However PBKS restricted him to simply three makes an attempt, yielding solely two runs.
By curbing his favorite modes of assault, Punjab ensured Suryakumar couldn’t dominate. His companions, compelled to compensate, fell beneath the stress, leading to common dismissals.
A key side of Punjab’s plan was the usage of size. The yorker, Suryakumar’s least productive size this season, was a spotlight. PBKS bowlers delivered three yorkers, conceding simply two runs. His dismissal — leg earlier than on the ultimate ball of the innings — got here from one within the blockhole.
Full and back-of-a-length balls additionally troubled Surya this season, along with his strike charges hovering round 140. PBKS exploited this weak point, delivering 19 of the 39 balls he confronted at these lengths. His mixed strike charge towards these deliveries in the course of the match? Simply 115.79.
Left-arm tempo has additionally been a problem for Suryakumar this season. Earlier than this match, he had confronted 31 balls from left-arm seamers, scoring solely 38 runs, together with 16 dot balls. PBKS capitalised on this with Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen.
Of the 12 balls he confronted from the 2 left-armers, Surya managed simply 10 runs, together with a solitary boundary — a thick exterior edge two balls into his innings. He managed solely two runs from the 4 balls he confronted from Arshdeep within the closing over, additional stifling Mumbai’s whole.
“He [Suryakumar] scored 50-odd, however we managed to include him. We acquired some assist from the wicket. We needed him to play to our energy, to not his, and that’s what we did,” Shashank Singh defined within the post-match press convention.
Regardless of his six fours and two sixes, Suryakumar’s fifty was considered one of his much less fluent knocks. Punjab’s technique of steering him away from his most popular pictures proved essential in limiting Mumbai’s whole to a manageable rating.