South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton revealed that he was stunned by Suryakumar Yadav’s trademark shot during the IPL 2025 clash between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders played on March 01.
In the low-scoring encounter, Mumbai were asked to chase down 117 by the Knight Riders. Rickelton had done most of the job by the time Suryakumar Yadav arrived at the crease.
On facing the second delivery of the night, Suryakumar Yadav effortlessly unleashed his trademark shot. Without wasting much time, he got across the line and scooped it over the fine-led boundary straight into the stand.
“I just said to Quinny that SKY is a joke, stuff that I can’t do, stuff that I can’t dream of. He has played that shot many a time, I’m not going to try it but I’m glad that he is in our team,” said Ryan Rickelton.
Rickelton arrived his maiden stint in the IPL and laboured to adjust to the demanding conditions of India. Having played underpar scores 13 and 6 in the first two matches of the IPL 2025, he put up a stellar show in the match.
Rickelton who smashed 62 (41) at Wankhede, said, “I took my time. I just had to lay bat on it. To be honest, the ball was moving around, lucky to have got some runs. Chatting to the guys back in South Africa about the Wankhede, does a bit, it’s challenging, but looking forward to getting out again and trying to maximise the pace on offer.”
“It’s unbelievable. I have never been to the Wankhede before. The crowd turned the stadium blue, definitely going to enjoy my time here.”
After putting up a 8-wicket triumph, debutant Ashwani Kumar left the knights bamboozled with his four-wicket haul.
The 23 year old made his IPL debut a day to remember and returned with figures of 4/24. His wicket pool included established stars featuring skipper Ajinkya rahane, Rinku Singh, Manish Pandey and Andre Russell.
“I think they executed really well, but the conditions allowed certain tactics to adjust, the spinners tried to bowl in lengths. I think we bowled phenomenally well to restrict such a team to a low score,” he added.
Mumbai Indians will play their next match against Lucknow Super Giants on April 14 at Ekana Cricket Stadium.
