On the eve of the Mumbai Indians’ IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, Suryakumar Yadav worked hard in the nets, which was a contrasting image for a batter who thrived on taking a brief break from the game to find his way back to runs.
Just before the T20 World Cup, in January this year, Suryakumar eradicated his batting troubles from 2025 with three half-centuries against New Zealand in a five-match series. With another gritty knock, he helped India defeat the USA in the tournament’s first match.
Before taking up the bat once more to regain his form, Suryakumar had disconnected from social media and rested for two to three weeks. However, neither of those is feasible during a hectic IPL season, and hitting the nets might be the only option to get back the runs.
Suryakumar and former captain Rohit Sharma, whose availability for the match against SRH is still uncertain, were among the players that hit the nets as soon as the Mumbai team returned from their two-day stay at Jamnagar.
Suryakumar was the first player to hit the nets on Tuesday, well ahead of MI’s scheduled practice session, which began at 6 p.m. and lasted for 1.5 hours.
After finishing hitting in the nets, Suryakumar went straight to speak with his India teammate Abhishek Sharma, the IPL’s top run scorer. Ishan Kishan soon joined them.
Meanwhile, SRH opener Travis Head and MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene stood next to them and engaged in a lengthy conversation.
Rohit, who has been sidelined since April 12 due to a hamstring injury sustained during MI’s home match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, is still on a comeback trail.
Since then, the 38-year-old has batted in the nets multiple times, but the team’s position remained unchanged from the last game.
“Rohit has continued to progress but any call on his involvement in Wednesday’s game will be taken at the toss,” PTI quoted a MI spokesperson as saying on Tuesday.
The team’s training at Wankhede Stadium was attended by MI’s former captain. Before leaving the field, he engaged in some light running and warm-up with two support staff members and had a lengthy conversation. There was no batting session for him.
