Zaheer Khan: Eagerly waiting for Suryakumar Yadav

The first afternoon IPL game at the D Y Patil Stadium on Saturday between fivetime champions Mumbai Indians and inaugural edition winners Rajasthan Royals is expected to be a keenly fought affairDew fall was a significant factor in the first two evening games here with Royal Challengers Bangalore losing the batsmendominated first match to Punjab Kings before prevailing over Kolkata Knight Riders in a lowscoring thrillerIn both matches the team chasing the target won but the script could change when MI take on 2008 champions RR with the dew factor likely to impact the outcome to a lesser degreeRR skipper Sanju Samson during his 27ball 55 against Sunrisers Hyderabad recently PicrrinstagramMI who lost their lung opener to Delhi Capitals as they have done so often in the last few years would be keen to clinch victory against a side that are led by explosive wicketkeeperbatsman Sanju Samson He was in a punishing mood and stroked his way to a quickfire half century 55 off 27 balls 5x6 3x4 when RR opened their campaign at Pune against 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad The MI think tank would certainly have made plans to stop the Keralaborn Samson from doing an encore against their bowlers However Rohit Sharma and his men would be illadvised to concentrate only on SamsonRRrsquos strokemakersThere are other strokemakers in Englandrsquos Jos Buttler West Indian Shimron Hetmyer and Devdutt Padikkal to think about from the RR ranks They have a wellbalanced attack too with Trent Boult who was so good for MI till last season but was not retained ahead of the auction and the fastimproving Prasidh Krishna to bowl at the beginning and in later stages R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal are a handy spin combo to tackle the middle oversMumbai Indians Zaheer KhanMI are strengthened by Suryakumar Yadavrsquos return to fitness from a finger injury that saw him miss the game against Delhi CapitalsZaheer Khan MIrsquos Director of Cricket Operations was upbeat about this development ldquoSuryakumar Yadav is a retained player and has been a key member of this side and we are all eagerly waiting for him to take the fieldrdquo said the former India pacerldquoIn terms of his availability for the next game yes he isrdquo Zaheer added Surya has been a vital member of the MI core with his consistent displays with the bat Bought in the mega auction of 2018 he has scored over 300 runs each season going past 400 twice and 500 once Although he has batted at all positions from one to six he has made the No3 spot his speciality logging in over 1000 runs at onedownMI would be keen that he hits the ground running With Surya in the playing XI looks formidable with skipper Rohit Sharma at the top and the powerful Pollard ready to take care of the last phase of the innings The immediate good form of wicketkeeperbatsman Ishan Kishan who was retained by MI for a whopping Rs1525 crore was also a welcome sign for the 2020 title winnersDashing KishanKishan who opened with Rohit and blasted his way to 81 in 41 balls against DC is fully fit to play after having recovered from the toe injury he had sustained in that game Zaheer informedMI have a strong pace bowling combo led by India spearhead Jasprit Bumrah to take advantage of the freshness of the tracks But they appear a bit weak in the spin department wherein only leggie Murugan Ashwin figured and took two for 14 in their lung opener