When a Jofra Archer knuckle-ball crashed into Suryakumar Yadav’s helmet during Mumbai Indians’ clash against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday, many would have been wondering how the batsman would respond.
The Mumbaikar came up with a perfect riposte, scooping a yorker, bowled at nearly 150kmph, over third-man for a six. Suryakumar, whose unbeaten 79 off 47 balls set up MI’s first win against Royals in five years, revealed that his batting partner Hardik Pandya was of immense help while producing that extraordinary shot.
Hardik’s take
“Hardik was like, ‘this is the time, let’s try and do something different’. I asked him given his experience what he feels, what he [Archer] was going to try? He was like, ‘he may hit a yorker.’ I said let’s get prepared for that,” Suryakumar said during a media interaction on Thursday.
“That was one of the shots I had been practising during lockdown. I just tried to execute it without thinking about anything else, and it worked.
“The first few hours were a little disturbing. But the physios and doctors took good care of me and I am feeling better now,” said Suryakumar about the impact of the Archer delivery.
