Hyderabad/Mumbai: Star batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is recovering after surgery for a sports hernia, may miss Mumbai Indians first match of the 17th season of the Indian Premier League.
While MI head coach Mark Boucher on Monday during pre pre-season press conference told reporters that they were waiting to hear from Indian team management, ETV Bharat understands that Surya in all likelihood will miss the first game against Gujarat Titans to be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"We are awaiting updates on Suryakumar from the BCCI. We have always been under a cloud of fitness issues but we have a world-class medical team. We may lose one or two in terms of fitness but we have to move on," Boucher said.
"As the coach of Mumbai Indians, I am going to be a little bit biased and hope to see my best players in all the games. I have a soft spot for my players and I do understand that they might have niggles and that's when I will fall back on my medical team and work with them accordingly," Boucher added.
Surya, a right-handed batter, is an important cog in the wheel for the Mumbai Indians and is once again expected to play a crucial role for the five-time champions. Surya this time will play under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, who has replaced Rohit Sharma as the skipper.
Surya most likely will continue to play in the middle order as the top order could feature Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma and wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan.
The 17th season of the cash-rich IPL kicks off with a clash between defending champions Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium popularly known as Chepauk in Chennai from March 22.
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