RR vs MI: Suryakumar Yadav's full fitness imperative for T20 World Cup 2024, warns Tom Moody

Former Australia cricketer turned expert analyst Tom Moody feels that Mumbai Indians top-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav should not rush to gain full fitness upon his return to the cricket field. Suryakumar was the missing link in the MI team, which is looking totally different from what we saw early on in the season without the right-hand batsman. Last night against the Punjab Kings, he played out a knock of 78 runs which eventually helped his team win by 9 runs in Mullanpur. 

It was Suryakumar Yadav's second fifty+ score of the season and first half-century since scoring 52 runs during MI's win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on 11th April. Much like Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar, too, is staging his return to competitive cricket through IPL 2024. The 33-year-old had to deal with two different issues at once - a knee injury as well as a disease called Sports Hernia, which is a bit common in a sportsperson's life.

Why Suryakumar Yadav was out of action for more than 3 months?

Back in December 2023, Suryakumar Yadav was captaining the Indian team in the first phase of the South African tour which included 3 T20Is-ODIs and a 2-match Test series. In Hardik Pandya's absence, Surya was captaining the Men in Blue. In the series concluding T20I at Johannesburg, after scoring his 4th century in the shortest format, SKY sustained a knee injury which ruled him out for the ODI series, and he was also sent back home. 

While he was recovering from the knee surgery, Surya was diagnosed with a Sports Hernia that further hindered his progress, keeping him away from attaining full fitness. But a few weeks ago, the NCA gave him the green light to go on and feature in IPL and he made his return through the clash against Delhi Capitals at Wankhede where Mumbai claimed their opening win of the season. 

But Suryakumar Yadav was out for a duck in that match and he made amends in the following match against RCB by scoring 52 runs before getting out for a duck again in MI's loss against CSK. And last night against the Punjab Kings, Surya smashed 73 off 53 balls at a 140+ strike rate and his knock was very important behind Mumbai's total of 192. 

What did Tom Moody say about SKY?

While speaking to Star Sports in the post-match analysis of Punjab versus Mumbai, Tom Moody claimed that Suryakumar Yadav should be acting like a turtle at the moment. He said this in the context of Surya getting back to full fitness, something he should not be rushing at all. Moody stated that he should be able to spend all 40 overs in the pitch and that he should also have the T20 World Cup 2024 in mind. 

"Yeah it's important that he slowly works back into full fitness, he needs to be playing for the whole 40 overs and that would be great. Not that he bowls or anything but for his own peace of mind and fitness for the preparation for what is beyond the IPL," Moody said via Star Sports.