‘Delayed debut for India & struggles made me hungrier’: Suryakumar to Dravid after blistering ton vs Sri Lanka

The rise of Suryakumar Yadav in International Cricket is a story to be remembered. From grinding hard in the domestic circuit for over a decade to reaching the top echelons in T20I Cricket, the Mumbai-based cricketer has come a long way. Yadav, who played yet another masterful knock in India’s victorious night in Rajkot against Sri Lanka, has stated that playing International Cricket after working hard in domestic cricket has made him hungrier now. 

In an interview after the T20I series on Saturday, Yadav was asked by India’s head coach Rahul Dravid whether the delay in playing International Cricket has him value the success more or has it made him even more hungrier. “It does make me even more hungrier now. I mean the amount of domestic cricket I have played, I have always enjoyed playing that for my state side Mumbai and I always try to put up a show where ever I go. Enjoyed batting even there as well. Yes it was a little challenging in the last few years but kept telling myself this is why you play this game, enjoy it, the passion for this game kept me driving so I just kept going,” Yadav stated.

Yadav had earlier stated that it was in 2018 that he tweaked his training and started focusing on smart work rather than hard work. While speaking to ESPN Cricinfo’s Cricket monthly in October 2022, the 32-year-old Yadav had stated, “After 2017-18 me and my wife, Devisha, sat down and decided, let’s do some smart work from here on. You have worked hard, you have come this far, let’s do something else and we will see what happens.” 

Cut back to the present, India’s vice-captain for the T20I series against Sri Lanka Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged his family for playing an instrumental role in his journey. “I mean the role of the family has been most important in my cricketing journey till now. When I started playing cricket, they were the ones who helped me out of the box. Because my dad is an engineer, so in my family there is no history of sports. I had to be a little different for him to see a spark in me and push me. They have sacrificed a lot and obviously my wife. After we got married she’s been pushing me really hard in terms of nutrition and in terms of staying fit. We have been talking about cricket a lot when I go back home and we discuss how we can do better, how we can be one step ahead at this level and we really enjoy doing that,” Yadav said to Dravid after India’s 2-1 win over Sri Lanka.

Yadav has now hit 3 hundred in T20I cricket and is joint second to Rohit Sharma in the tally of most tons in T20Is. Dravid also asked Yadav about which inning he will rate higher in his career. To which the Mumbai Indians cricketer replied, “It is actually difficult for me to pick any one innings. I enjoyed batting in all the difficult situations where I went into bat. I just enjoyed myself, whatever I did in the last one year. I have been doing the same thing again,” he added.

Latest Cricket News