IPL 2023: He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years – AB de Villiers on Suryakumar Yadav’s form

Former South African skipper AB de Villiers has urged Suryakumar Yadav to stick to what has been working for him over the years. SKY is well known for his T20 pyrotechnics but he hasn’t been at his absolute best in the last month.

The Mumbai batter was dismissed for three golden ducks in the ODI series against Australia. Subsequently, the 32-year-old was dismissed cheaply for 15 runs in the team’s first IPL match against Mumbai Indians.

SKY has ticked the right boxes for MI over the years and he is going to hold the key for the franchise in the ongoing season in the middle-overs.

“He (Surya) is probably in that phase now where he needs to do something. But the secret of it all is not to panic and not to change your game plan. He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years,” De Villiers said on JioCinema.

“Maybe he can try and remember ‘what are my basics’ or ‘what did I do very well when I was just consistently scoring runs’ and because obviously, he took his game to a completely different level.”

AB added that SKY needs to forget about the lofty expectations everyone has from him as he isn’t going to fire at all cylinders on all occasions.

“It is not a bad thing just to come a level down and spend a little time in there before you pop out again. You cannot always score 100 off 40 balls – it is not always going to happen,” said the RCB legend. “Expectations can bog a player down and he had learnt it from his own experiences and especially the kind of performances that RCB supporters always wanted from him.

“That is something I had to learn the hard way with the Chinnaswamy crowd going, expecting me to score a hundred in every game. I sometimes had to tell myself, “you know what AB let’s be honest here, you are not reading the ball very. Just make sure you go run-a-ball and give Virat the strike or just get someone else on’.

“And then slowly and surely I get one good shot and then I am back in the game. There will always be a sign when you get into good form; there will be a bad delivery from the bowler or you will hit a good straight drive and then you can be say ‘hold on, I am back in form, and let’s hurt the bowlers.”

SKY has been in amazing form and it is a matter of time before he gets his confidence back. Mumbai Indians will face Chennai Super Kings on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.