No need to panic for MI, says Yadav

MUMBAI: Suryakumar Yadav, the brightest spot for Mumbai Indians (MI) in their difficult start to this Indian Premier League season, has urged for patience from the squad he felt would build nicely in a few years’ time.

“As you have seen, it is a fresh auction and we are building this team for the next threefour years, coming a few years down the line, you will see some great players coming out from this team,” Yadav said at the virtual pre-match press conference ahead of the MI’s encounter against Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The five-time champions have had a challenging start to the fresh season, losing all their five matches so far to be the only team that is yet to open the account in the points table.

Yadav, who has been in great form personally, however felt that the team has been playing some good cricket despite not getting the results.

“We are playing some good cricket from game one and there is no situation like panicking for a team like MI. We have been following good processes in the past few years and we are just sticking to it.

“If we just keep doing it, we will eventually get our first win and we just have to keep working hard towards our goal together, which we are doing in practice sessions,” the 31-yearold said.

Chahar out of IPL

Chennai Super Kings pace bowler Deepak Chahar, the second-most expensive player at the IPL auction, was on Friday ruled out of the tournament due to a back injury, organisers said. Chahar, 29, was expected to join CSK in late April but the injury has put paid to his plans.

KKR pacer Rasikh Salam is also out the of the IPL with a lower back injury. Young Delhi pacer Harshit Rana has been named his replacement.