Five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians received a big boost ahead of the second match of the 2022 season on Saturday (April 2) against Rajasthan Royals with batter Suryakumar Yadav joining the team after recovering from injury in NCA. Suryakumar had fractured his thumb during the limited-overs series against West Indies and as a result missed the Sri Lanka series as well as MI’s first game of IPL 2022 against Delhi Capitals.
“The team underwent a strength and conditioning session yesterday under the watchful eyes of Paul Chapman. The session involved weight and fitness training, with the focus on working on core fitness and build strength. Suryakumar Yadav exited his mandatory quarantine and joined the team for the gym session in the company of his mates Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan and Jasprit Bumrah,” a release by the Mumbai Indians read on Thursday (March 31).
“The mood in the camp is upbeat as the team looks forward to playing their next game on 2nd April,” the release added.
The behind our boys' fitness
Our Asst. Physiotherapist, Ashutosh Nimse takes us through the process behind maintaining players' fitness and health! #OneFamily #DilKholKe #MumbaiIndians MI TV pic.twitter.com/U9NJIn4DlK
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 31, 2022
MI lost their first match of IPL 2022 against DC by four wickets. Suryakumar has been one of the in-form players for India in the T20 format.
The 31-year-old Suryakumar picked up a hairline fracture during the limited-overs series against West Indies and then missed the subsequent T20 series against Sri Lanka.
Suryakumar’s absence was a significant loss for Mumbai, who have no other specialist Indian international in their batting order apart from captain Rohit Sharma and the biggest buy of the mega auction Ishan Kishan.
Since 2019, the talented batter has played a pivotal role as a top-order batter for Mumbai. While the five-time champions failed to make the knockouts last season, Suryakumar continued to flourish. He was their second-leading run-scorer with a tally of 317 at a strike rate of 143.43 and an average of 22.
