'I reduced my friend circle, cut down on late-night outings' - Suryakumar Yadav reveals sacrifices he made to play for India

Suryakumar Yadav is one of India's finest T20 batters of all time. The right-handed batter started his Indian Premier League (IPL) career at the Mumbai Indians before moving to the Kolkata Knight Riders and becoming their vice-captain. However, he reunited with the Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2018 and has never looked back since making the move.

Suryakumar made his debut for India in the shortest format of the game in March 2021 at the age of 30. Now, he is the captain of the Men in Blue in T20 cricket.

The Mumbai batter and his wife, Devisha Shetty, recently appeared as guests on the talk show "Who's the boss?" hosted by former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and his wife, Geeta Basra. During the interaction, Suryakumar explained how he made some sacrifices to improve his chances of getting an India call-up and he also appreciated the mental support received from Devisha.

“I was very content at that time [around 2016]. Whatever was happening, it was okay. I was enjoying this game. But then, it gradually dawned on me that there’s a bigger level ahead. I was scoring runs, so what’s the problem? Players from my age group were already playing for India. I was wondering what to do when madam came into the picture," Suryakumar said.

“I reduced my friend circle, cut down on late-night outings and weekends. We focused on quality practice sessions and I brought some discipline into my life. One season [2018] went well, and then 2019 was even better. 2020 was like icing on the cake. We started in 2018 and, from the first year, the graph started rising. Because the door was not opening alone, we broke it together,” the 34-year-old added.

I noticed that no one is giving him that little bit of that push: Devisha

Devisha refused to take all the credit for Suryakumar's international success. However, she said that the flamboyant batter did have the urge to play for India, and all she did was offer him mental support, so that he could realise his dream.

“At that time, when we got married, that extra push that, ‘I want to go further, I want to do this’, it was there, but it was not as strong as it should have been. I noticed that no one is giving him that little bit of that push. That was not coming from anywhere. It took me a year to make him understand that friends and all are great. Have a good time, but do not let that compromise with your work," Devisha said.

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“After a point, he stopped looking at the teams that were getting announced. He was like, ‘the day it comes, we’ll come to know’. What he did cricket wise, it’s him. I am not involved. But of course, pushing him a little bit mentally… ,” she concluded.