IPL 2024: SKY boost for winless Mumbai Indians ahead of key Delhi clash

THE 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has started on a note which is far from happy for Mumbai Indians (MI). While reports have suggested that the franchise's dressing room is not in a cohesive mood under the new captain, Hardik Pandya, the five-time champions' performance on the 22 yards has not been inspiring either.

Mumbai have lost all their three matches so far and in one of them, they allowed their opponents to post a mammoth 277 -- the highest in the history of the tournament. Pandya has been constantly booed wherever he has gone and there have been more than one video showing him in chats with people associated with the team and franchise that don't give an "all-is-well" message.

Amid the chaos, MI saw a silver-lining on Friday (5) when one of their most explosive batters, Suryakumar Yadav, appeared for training in the nets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Yadav or SKY as he is popularly known, has missed cricket for a while now due to an injury but he was found batting with ease at the nets. He also hit some of his trademark shots, giving Pandya's side hopes that he could compete in the crucial next fixture against Delhi Capitals at home on Sunday (7).

Read: Suryakumar Yadav's 'heartbreak' post leaves Mumbai Indians fans worried

Mumbai are currently languishing at the bottom of the 10-team table and if Yadav plays, the Hardik Pandya-led team will hope that his presence helps them with the anticipated turnaround.

The 33-old underwent a surgery to treat sports hernia and was also nursing an ankle injury which he had sustained during India's tour of South Africa late last year.

Read: IPL commentator Sanjay Manjrekar schools crowd over constant booing of Hardik Pandya

Yadav was the first to arrive for the training session at the Wankhede Stadium, more than an hour before his teammates came for the afternoon session. He walked into one of the two nets and batted for more than an hour, not looking to exert himself but getting his body in rhythm and getting his strokes going a few days after he was given the clearance to join the Mumbai Indians' squad by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) staff.

The right-handed batter unleashed strokes in all parts of the ground while batting against throwdown specialists and spinner Kumar Kartikeya. He hit the ball exactly the way he wanted, middling most of his strokes and also practiced his trademark flick shot over the fine-leg region.

Yadav had a fantastic run with the bat in the 2023 edition of the IPL in which he scored 605 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of more than 181 and slammed one hundred and five fifties.

Delhi are also not in the best of shape. They were walloped by Kolkata Knight Riders by 106 runs in their previous match and have just one win from four outings. Both teams would look to pick one win so that not too much is left for the business end of the tournament.

(With PTI inputs)