Went to bed around 4 or 5 in the morning

By Umesh KumarSports

Mumbai Indians (MI) star Suryakumar Yadav recalled his nerves ahead of his debut for the franchise in the 2012 IPL season. After his stellar performances for Mumbai in the 2011 domestic season, MI acquired Surya for the 2012 season.

However, the right-hander played only a solitary game against the now-defunct Pune Warriors India (PWI) that season. Surya was cleaned up for a four-ball duck by West Indian off-spinner Marlon Samuels in the game.

He did not play any further games in that and the following season for MI before moving to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2014.

Recalling his IPL debut for MI amid the ongoing 2025 season, Surya said on JioHotstar (Via NDTV):

“I barely slept the night before my debut for Mumbai Indians – went to bed around 4 or 5 in the morning. There was so much excitement. Playing for a franchise brings a different kind of buzz. I was just enjoying the moment, thinking about stepping onto the field for warm-up and as soon as I did, I was already sweating. It felt really good.”

After four seasons with KKR from 2014 to 2017, Surya returned to MI in 2018 and has been one of their pillars since. The 34-year-old helped KKR win the title in 2014 and MI back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020.

Suryakumar Yadav will look to continue his sensational IPL 2025 form against RR tonight

Suryakumar Yadav has been in red-hot batting form in the ongoing IPL season. The veteran batter is third on the Orange Cap leaderboard despite batting at No.3 and 4 for MI.

Surya has scored 427 runs in ten matches at an average of 61 and a strike rate of almost 170, including three half-centuries. The swashbuckling batter has scored at least 25 in all ten games thus far of IPL 2025.

His dominant and consistent run has helped MI forge a comeback after they lost four out of their first five games. The five-time champions have won their last five matches to climb to third on the points table with 12 points in ten outings.

Surya will be in action when MI take on the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur tonight (May 1).