Former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir has said that releasing Suryakumar Yadav after IPL 2017 was the biggest loss by KKR in their IPL history. After joining Mumbai Indians, Yadav is one of their highest run-getters in the IPL.
He ended the IPL 2020 season with 480 runs and played a big part in their title defense. Yadav batted at his preferred number three position for Mumbai and did the bulk of the scoring for the side. In fact, he has scored over 1000 runs for the franchise ever since joining them three seasons ago.
Releasing Suryakumar Yadav Was KKR’s Biggest Mistake – Gautam Gambhir
Talking to ESPNcricinfo, Gambhir said that Surya was KKR’s biggest loss in the IPL in 13 years for them. Gambhir also revealed why he didn’t get frequent chances under Gautam Gambhir’s leadership.
“Suryakumar Yadav is not easily earned by Mumbai Indians. He’s probably the biggest loss that KKR has ever had in 13 years. Someone who was young, came into KKR, played for four years, obviously couldn’t get the number where he should have batted at because of the batting line up we had at that time,” Gambhir said.
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He also spoke about his role behind making Suryakumar Yadav the vice-captain of the side during his time with the side. Praising him, Gautam Gambhir stated that the Mumbai batsman is a player everyone needs as he can bat at any position.
“He was the vice-captain when I was leading the side. Made him the vice-captain so that there was easy transition. I could see that leadership quality with Surya. Very selfless guy, you make him bat at No. 6 or 7. He can bat at any number. There will never be a phase where he’d like to bat at 3. And that is the kind of players you want” Gambhir further added.
Suryakumar Yadav was unfortunate to miss out on scoring a big one in the final. He scored just 19 off 20 balls before he sacrificed his wicket in a runout with skipper MI skipper Rohit Sharma.
“Rohit was batting very well at that moment. Most importantly he has been anchoring the innings a lot since first game. I don’t mind sacrificing my wicket for him at all” said Surya when asked about his unfortunate run-out.
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