“These are mind games” - Mohammad Kaif feels Suryakumar Yadav bluffs the opposition smartly

Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has lauded the Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav for not showing any signs of panic despite losing the toss in the second semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kaif has heaped praise on Surya for bluffing the opposition and playing mind games at the toss. Notably, Surya stated that his team was looking to bat first after losing the toss against England.

"Suryakumar Yadav's biggest bluff comes when he loses the toss. England won the toss and said they would chase. He did not show any panic. After losing the toss, if the opposition team says they want to chase, Surya says we were anyway going to bat first. These are mind games. That said, he usually decides to chase when he wins the toss,” Mohammad Kaif said on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, Kaif reckoned that Surya looked a bit worried during the partnership between Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks. However, he added that the Indian skipper didn’t hit the panic button by introducing the sixth bowling option. Moreover, he asserted that Surya will learn how to win the games with five bowlers in the near future. 

"He captained the side well. However, he seemed worried during Bethell and Jacks' partnership. He was in trouble there, thinking about how to stop the runs as the English batters were never behind the required run rate. He would have been worried at that point, but he did not panic or go to his sixth or seventh bowler. He knew that when his main bowlers were going for runs, Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma couldn't have done anything. He did not make any wrong decision under pressure,” he added.

"Moving forward, Surya will learn that we can win matches with five bowlers. He has learned to play with five bowlers. Bring in Axar Patel at the right time, and if you can rotate the bowlers well. Five bowlers are enough. But yes, this was a match where you needed six bowlers. You need an extra bowler when the target is 250, and everyone is getting hit. However, you don't need six bowlers in normal tournaments. So, he has learnt that he can win matches with five bowlers. He won against West Indies without bowling Dube, and here as well, even if Axar Patel bowled the last over, he would have conceded fewer runs. He is a clever bowler and would have done the job by bowling yorkers,” he concluded.

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