Was Expecting To Get Selected For The Australia Tour After IPL 2020, Reveals Suryakumar Yadav

India middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav has revealed that he was expecting to get selected for the 2020-21 Australia tour consisting of three ODIs, three T20Is and four Tests. He didn’t feature in any of the squads that travelled Down Under.

He eventually made his T20I debut against England in the five-match series at home in February this year. In his debut innings, he scored 57 runs in just 31 balls with him hitting a six on the first ball of his innings.

The right-hander had scored more than 400 runs in every IPL since making his comeback in Mumbai Indians in 2018. He aggregated 512, 424 and 480 runs in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. Apart from this, he was scoring tons of runs for Mumbai in List A and first-class cricket.

In four-day games, he has amassed 5326 runs with 10 hundred and 20 fifties with an average of 39.68 and the highest score of 200. In List A, he has accumulated 2903 runs with three hundred and 18 fifties with an average of 38.19 with the highest score of 134 not out.

Meanwhile, Yadav has revealed that he was expecting to get an India call-up before his team Mumbai Indians’ reverse fixture against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Suryakumar Yadav felt his long wait for India call-up would during the IPL 2020

The 31-year-old had a chat with cricket presenter Vikram Sathaye and told him that he was expecting that his long wait would come to an end.

“Almost half the IPL was over before that match (against RCB) happened. I still remember the Indian team (for the tour of Australia) was going to be announced. I had a good IPL 2019 and 2020 season, and I scored runs in domestic cricket as well,” said the right-handed batter.

“I expected that I would get a call. It was not an arrogant thought like ‘yes, I am going to get a call’. But, back of the mind, there was this hope that the long wait would end.”

Yadav added that he was disappointed after not getting selected. He took his wife Devisha Shetty on the beach but kept thinking about the non-selection for the whole.

“When I saw the squad, and my name was not in it, I was a little disappointed. From my side, I was trying to do everything. I took my wife to the beach for walks, and missed a few practice sessions, as I was thinking about that (not being selected) only,” Yadav added.

The Mumbai-born player further added that he spoke to bowling coach Zaheer Khan and head coach Mahela Jayawardene about the non-selection and they told him that the upcoming game against RCB was a perfect opportunity.

“One day, Mahela and Zak came up to me, and said that this was the perfect opportunity to prove myself as it was MI vs RCB. I said, ok, but back of the mind, I was lost and disappointed. I didn’t know what was happening even as the trainers and captain were speaking to me,” the Mumbai-born cricketer further stated.

In July 2021, he also made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in the three-match series and made his maiden half-century.