IPL 2022: "Nothing has changed, just a new tag 'retention' has come" - Suryakumar Yadav

Mumbai Indians (MI)'s Suryakumar Yadav has said he doesn't feel any pressure of being a "retained player" in the squad. The middle-order batter dismissed it as "just a new tag," saying his responsibilities have remained the same since 2018.

Suryakumar joined the franchise four years ago from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he played as a floater and a finisher. Mumbai Indians assigned him to the middle and top-order, which turned out to be a massive inflection point in his career.

The right-hander has established himself as the franchise's best player of spin, scoring 1785 runs from 62 matches at an average of 32.47 and a strike rate of 137.06.

His contributions were one of the reasons that the franchise retained him for ₹8 crore ahead of Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya. When asked about the same ahead of the team's match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he said:

"Not really. I think the responsibility has been the same since I've started playing for Mumbai Indians in 2018. Nothing has changed, just a new tag 'retention' has come. So everything remains the same."

He now has the responsibility and hopes of all Mumbai Indians fans to help the five-time champions recover from one of their worst starts to an IPL season.

They have lost three on the trot and are looking at their batters to make up for a paper-thin bowling lineup.

I am enjoying this role: Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar admitted to "learning a lot" at KKR but said he's enjoying his role at Mumbai Indians better. He said:

"Both franchises are completely different and professional. I learned a lot there as well. My role there was completely different and when I came here, it's completely different but [I am] enjoying this role (smiles)."

The 31-year-old batter is currently in action at the MCA Stadium in Pune against RCB. You can catch the live scores and commentary of that here.