Suryakumar Yadav will be captaining MI against CSK in the absence of Hardik Pandya © AFP Suryakumar Yadav has quite a bit on his plate, but you wouldn’t have known it from his easy, cheerful presence at the pre-match presser ahead of Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2025 opener against Chennai Super Kings. Three were jokes and light-hearted quips peppered liberally between answers, belying the task on hand. For starters, he faces the weight of the streak against a CSK side that’s usually formidable at home and he must snap it with a team that’s missing two of the league’s most irreplaceable players: Jasprit Bumrah (injured) and Hardik Pandya (suspension). “Bumrah is being missed but Hardik is here only. He is just not playing tomorrow’s game. He will be around,” the stand-in skipper chuckled, before adding: “It is difficult to fill the shoes of such amazing players but it is part of the game. The show must go on.” The 2025 season opener – only his second game as IPL captain – comes at an interesting juncture in Suryakumar’s career. In about a year’s time, he will be tasked with leading India’s defence of their T20 World Cup crown at home and this IPL will offer very representative conditions. Suryakumar said going into the IPL as India captain didn’t feel particularly different and that he would be on the lookout for breakout talents, if any, as he used to even previously. “My eyes were always open, even when I was not the captain,” he said. “Even when, I think, Rohit [Sharma] bhai was the captain of T20. That time also, my eyes were wide open. Because at the end of the day, when someone does really well in the IPL for the franchise and goes on to play for India, every player is important. So, any player who can make an impact for India, your eyes have to be wide open. And it won’t be that different from all the years. I think it will be the same. Just a little bit of added responsibility. That’s it.” Considered among the format’s foremost batters, Suryakumar is coming off a lean run for India – a byproduct, perhaps, of the high-risk style he’s helped shape and champion over the past year. Since the South Africa tour last year, he’s averaged 14.30 and struck at just 120.77 across 13 T20Is. “Is that for IPL or for Team India? IPL form has been good sir,” he joked, harking back to the 2024 when he scored 345 runs in 11 innings with a century and three fifties. “I am actually a process-oriented man. I love to work hard in the nets. And if the runs have to follow, it will follow quickly. Someday or the other. “If I am practicing well, hitting the ball really well in the nets, when I go in the game, my mind is clear, I know what I have to do. That is the moment, that is the sweet spot for me. When I know that I am in good space and I will get runs for the side.” Suryakumar has also has a small call to make ahead of Sunday’s game, one that might be out of his hands when Pandya returns. For India, he’d dropped himself a spot down to allow Tilak Varma to bat at No.3. At Mumbai Indians though he expects their roles to be more fluid. “I have seen that guy, he has been working really hard. So for Team India, I thought it will be better if he bats No.3 and I can take the responsibility at No. 4. “Because for me, I think batting number doesn’t matter. I will try and bat the same way, try and make that impact whenever there is an opportunity. So does he. So you might see guys being flexible during this season, during this stint with the IPL. And everyone is flexible. Even I can bat at three, I can bat at five, Tilak can bat at 5. So it’s that flexibility we have in our team. And with the form, I think the harder you work, the luckier you get. If it has to come, it will come anytime.”
