Suryakumar Yadav opened up about the controversial incident with Virat Kohli in a recent interview.
In an interview with India Today Conclave 2025, T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav was asked about the mysterious face-off with Virat Kohli during a league match in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. The Mumbai Indians (MI) batter scored a match-winning 79* off just 43 balls against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
After his brilliant knock, skipper Kohli exchanged a cold glance with Surya. The batter gestured towards the MI dressing room, indicating that he is always there for the team and he would always do what the team required.
“There were a lot of things running in my mind on the gameday. If I have to be brutally honest, the team selected to travel to Australia a day or two before this game, and I actually expected that I’ll be taking that flight. Because if you do well two years in a row, you expect that you’ll land somewhere”, explained Surya, as he didn’t get a call from the Indian team.
MI won that match by five wickets and eventually, went on to win the tournament that season.
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The right-hander revealed that he was battling a tough time due to living in a safety bubble due to the pandemic. Moreover, not getting selected for the tour of Australia made him a bit frustrated.
“When I was scoring runs, there were a lot of cheer up from the captain, from the other end, and it was just a moment at that time. It was different but it was just a moment. Anyone in that situation would have reacted the same way”, explained Surya.
The 34-year-old admitted that they didn’t speak after that match. But, after his debut against England, Kohli offered him the No.3 position. Since then, they have played many matches together. It helped him to learn a lot of things and now, they have a mutual respect towards each other.
This year, IPL will kick off on March 22 as the defending champions KKR will take on RCB. The two most successful teams with five IPL trophies each, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and MI, will go head-to-head the day after.
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