‘I reduced my friend circle, cut down on late-night outings’ – Suryakumar Yadav reveals sacrifices he made to play for India

Suryakumar Yadav is one of India’s best T20 batsmen of all time. The right-handed hitter began his Indian Premier League (IPL) career with the Mumbai Indians before joining the Kolkata Knight Riders and became vice-captain. However, he rejoined the Mumbai Indians prior to the 2018 IPL season and has never looked back since.

Suryakumar made his debut for India in the shortest format of the game in March 2021, aged 30. Now, he captains the Men in Blue in T20 cricket.

The Mumbai batter and his wife, Devisha Shetty, recently featured on the talk show “Who’s the Boss?” which is hosted by former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and his wife, Geeta Basra. During the conversation, Suryakumar described how he made some compromises to boost his prospects of receiving an India call-up, and he also expressed gratitude for Devisha’s emotional support.

“I was quite satisfied at that time [about 2016]. Whatever was happening, it was fine. I really liked this game. However, it eventually dawned on me that there was a higher level ahead. What’s the problem? I was scoring runs. Players in my age group were already playing for India.

Suryakumar Yadav added, “I was wondering what to do when Madam came into the picture.”

“I reduced my friend circle, cut down on late-night outings and weekends. We focused on quality practice sessions and I brought some discipline into my life. One season [2018] went well, and then 2019 was even better. 2020 was like icing on the cake. We started in 2018 and, from the first year, the graph started rising. Because the door was not opening alone, we broke it together,” the 34-year-old added.

I noticed that no one is giving him that little bit of that push: Devisha

Devisha refused to take all the credit for Suryakumar’s international success. However, she said that the flamboyant batter did have the urge to play for India, and all she did was offer him mental support, so that he could realise his dream.

“At that time, when we got married, that extra push that, ‘I want to go further, I want to do this’, it was there, but it was not as strong as it should have been. I noticed that no one is giving him that little bit of that push. That was not coming from anywhere. It took me a year to make him understand that friends and all are great. Have a good time, but do not let that compromise with your work,” Devisha said.