"I've never read a book in my life and I started doing that as well" - Suryakumar Yadav opens up about changes during his recovery period from injury
Mumbai Indians (MI) batter Suryakumar Yadav recently spoke about his recovery period from an ankle injury and how he even started reading books for the first time in his life.
Suryakumar recently returned and played his first game of the IPL 2024 season against Delhi Capitals (DC). Although he was dismissed for a two-ball duck, MI won by 29 runs to open their account on the points table this season.
Suryakumar last played a competitive game on India's tour of South Africa in December last year, where he suffered an ankle injury that required surgery and rehabilitation.
In a video released on the IPL social media handle, the MI batter spoke about how he had to reinvent himself and become a better version during the recovery phase.
"That's why I started focussing on doing all the smaller things like sleeping on time and following a good diet. I've never read a book in my life and I started doing that as well. Getting up at the morning and spending good quality time at the rehab center and connecting everything, my body, brain with the rehab and it helped me really well to recover a little faster. Since I had 2-3 niggles at once, I had to take it one step at a time," Suryakumar Yadav said.
He added:
"It was very important for me to decide how I wanted to come back. When I spoke to my wife and all the people at the NCA, they said it has to be a second version of yourself where I am a little different once back on the field."
Suryakumar Yadav, ranked world's No.1 batter in T20Is, was also MI's best batter last season, scoring 605 runs at an average of 43.21 and a strike rate of 181.14. His heroics helped MI qualify for the playoffs for the first time since their title run in 2020.
"Would watch half the games because I was sleeping on time when I was in Bangalore" - Suryakumar Yadav
When asked if he watched all the MI games during his absence, Suryakumar Yadav said he would watch the first innings and sleep during his time at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
The swashbuckling batter missed MI's first three outings where they suffered defeats to GT, SRH, and RR.
"Always difficult when your team is playing and you are sitting in the room watching. I can't say that I didn't watch, I would watch half the games because I was sleeping on time when I was in Bangalore at about 10.30-10.45," said Suryakumar.
He spoke about waking up the following day to catch the full-game highlights and how it motivated him to get back on the field to help his team.
"So I used to watch only half the innings but would watch the entire game in the highlights the next day. It was difficult but it gave me a lot of motivation and inspiration looking at them that they are playing there and I've to work really hard, work on myself and my recovery and get out there as soon as possible," concluded Surya.
Suryakumar Yadav will be back in action when MI takes on RCB in their next outing at the Wankhede Stadium on April 11.