Suryakumar Yadav celebrated his first Twenty20 match as an opener by smashing an enterprising 53 against Delhi Daredevils at the Wankhede on Saturday. But the right-hander, who recently completed a century of appearances in the shortest format when he turned out for us in the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, rued the fact that we suffered our third straight defeat of the season.

“I think we were about 10 to 15 runs short. Anything over 180 is a good score on any ground. It was a defendable total. But when we started bowling, we could not find any momentum. We could not get early wickets. They didn’t give us any chance till the 12th over or so,” Yadav said.

He went on to narrate how he ended up getting the chance to open the innings. “Actually, they (team management) came up to me after the last game and asked if I would like to bat up the order. I said yes because I am flexible like that. They first said I would have to bat at No. 3. But, on Friday, I was asked if I could open the innings, especially because we were going to play at the Wankhede. I said I don’t mind opening the innings as well. I have played most of my cricket here. Also, my record in the recent T20 Mumbai League was good as well,” Yadav said.

Acknowledging that a batsman needs to make those “little adjustments” while batting at the top, Yadav said he has always enjoyed batting up the order. “It allows you to express yourself. In the few innings that have batted (for MI), I haven’t got the opportunity to bat higher up. This is my opportunity and I have to grab it,” Yadav said, adding that he has been “hitting the ball well in the nets”. He emphasised that he wants “face 40 to 50 balls” and bat longer so that it helps him as well as the team.

Yadav expressed disappointment over the fact that we have not opened our account yet. “It’s disappointing to not win even one out of three matches. But it’s happened in the past. We have fought back from similar situations. We need one more game to garner momentum.”

Asked about the Orange Cap sitting pretty on his head, Yadav said, “I didn’t think about this. I try and enjoy my batting than thinking how many runs I will end up with.”

Suryakumar Yadav has made the most of the opportunity by batting up the order and the team will look to bounce back when we take on RCB on Tuesday.