‘He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years’ – AB de Villiers’ golden advice for struggling Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav and AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 has had fans buzzing with excitement over its return, but the tournament did not get off to the best of starts for the five-time champions Mumbai Indians. In their first game of the tournament, the Rohit Sharma-led side succumbed to defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Much to fans’ disappointment, star Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav’s string of poor form continued. He was dismissed at just 15 in Mumbai’s first game of the season. Surya has been struggling to find his form of late, as he was unable to perform against Australia when India took them on in February-March 2023 as well.

Following his early dismissal in the first IPL game, Royal Challengers Bangalore and South Africa legend AB de Villiers recently came forward to advise Surya on his form and how he could improve on it.

“He (Surya) is probably in that phase now where he needs to do something. But the secret of it all is not to panic and not to change your game plan. He has got to stick to what has been working for him over the years,” De Villiers was quoted as saying by News18.

“Yes, maybe, he can try and remember ‘what are my basics’ or ‘what did I do very well when I was just consistently scoring runs’ and because obviously he took his game to a completely different level,” he added.

It is not a bad thing just to come a level down: De Villiers

Continuing on the same line, De Villiers also opined that Surya should forget what is expected of him. He also reflected on the fact that it is not always a bad thing to go down a level.

“It is not a bad thing just to go down a level and spend a little time in there before you pop out again. You cannot always score 100 off 40 balls; it is not always going to happen,” De Villiers said.

“That is something I had to learn the hard way with the Chinnaswamy crowd going, expecting me to score a hundred in every game. I sometimes had to tell myself, You know what, AB, let’s be honest here, you are not reading the ball very well. Just make sure you go run-a-ball and give Virat the strike, or just get someone else on’. And then slowly and surely I get one good shot, and then I am back in the game’,” he added.