A 'relaxed' approach turned things around for Suryakumar Yadav who came good on Sunday with a classy 43 after aggregating just 16 runs in three previous IPL matches as Mumbai Indians outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Suryakumar, the World's No 1 T20I batter, had scores of 15, 1 and 0 before his 25-ball knock of 43, which included four boundaries and three sixes.
"I relaxed and had an easy walk to the wicket, took my time for the first 6-7 balls. And then I thought if I get my eye in I can take it forward," said Suryakumar, who stood in for regular captain Rohit Sharma. Interestingly, Rohit came in the second half of the match, during MI's run chase as the Impact Player.
"We just need to bat smart in the first 7-10 overs and later on we know what kind of firepower we have. We just did the same thing today and hopefully we carry it forward into the next few games."
He said the team members had a chat in the dugout that they had to carry the momentum from the win in the last game.
"The boys put on a show. I would have loved to finish the game but nevertheless, I was very happy with the way the team played.
"In the afternoon we thought the wicket was a little dry, but the way the guys batted it settled down in the evening. At the Wankhede in day games, 160-170 is a good score but Kishan got us off to a great start."
Ishan Kishan set up the successful run chase with a 25-ball 58 studded with five boundaries and as many sixes at the top of the order.
Suryakumar also lauded veteran Piyush Chawla, who took 1/19 from 4 overs, for his 'legendary' spell.
"He put his hand up under pressure."
KKR captain Nitish Rana was not happy with the performance of his bowling unit.
"I think we could have bowled better in the powerplay. I definitely want my bowling unit to deliver more. One or two matches is fine, but it's been five games now," he said without mincing any words.
"People can have off days, but on back-to-back games, it hurts as an unit. But we will talk about it and hopefully we can bounce back."
Rana said his team were 15-20 runs short as the visitors finished on 185/6 in their 20 overs.
"Credit to PC bhai (Piyush Chawla) for the way he bowled. I feel quite bad for Venky. You play so well, score a century in a day game in Mumbai and you end up on the losing side. I feel bad for him.
"If our best bowlers are going for runs, there's not much to say. The way Ishan (Kishan) played against (Sunil) Narine."
KKR opener Venkatesh Iyer, who was named player of the match for his 51-ball 104, said, "Would have been happier if we would have finished on the winning note but nonetheless, pleased with my effort.
"That's the role given to me by the management and it's my job to repay them. Obviously it was a very beautiful wicket to bat on. Once you score those 30-40 runs, it gets easy to score. Really happy to get a hundred."
Iyer said his game plan was not to allow the MI new ball attack to settle down.
"Once you allow them to settle down, it gets difficult. So I just didn't want to let them settle. Once the swing goes away, it gets easier to play them.
"Once you're out there doing something for the team, you forget all the pain. The wicket was really nice and I was enjoying myself out there," he said when asked about some knocks on his body.
"In hindsight I think we did score 15-20 runs less, and the way MI were going, they could have scored it in another over but yeah, we were a little short."
