Surya recalls that simple advice that he gave himself ahead of first knock

"Be yourself," he remembered telling himself on that day when he made a brisk 57 in his second T20 game at Ahmedabad after he did not get to bat in his debut match

Mumbai: Flamboyant India and Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who made his international debut against England after a lengthy wait on the sidelines, recalled being nervous on the momentous day but a simple advice to self calmed him down. “Be yourself,” he remembered telling himself on that day.

Yadav made a brisk 57 in his second T20 game at Ahmedabad after he did not get to bat in his debut match, “If you would have seen properly, I was very excited at that time. Also, I was not happy at that time since Rohit (Sharma) had got out, but when I was going to bat, I was running in, so that shows how excited I was,” the 30-year-old said in a video posted by Mumbai Indians on their official Twitter handle.

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Yadav, who has now played three T20 games, said that he recollected his achievements at the number three spot while coming out of the dug-out. “When I padded up and came to the dug-out, I was nervous, and it should be that way, if you don’t get nervous, how would you perform,” he said.

“When I was going inside, everything started running in my mind, what I have done when I bat at three. I got my answer when I said to myself ‘don’t do anything different, do the same thing – be yourself, that’s it’,” the stylish right-handed batsman elaborated. Yadav started that innings with a scoop shot six off English pacer Jofra Archer.

“…people speak about the six, what were you feeling on the first ball after making India debut. It was necessary to be a bit calm and I knew what Archer had been doing in the IPL, how he comes hard at the batters.

“So, at the back of the mind there was a thought that he (Archer) would bowl that particular ball and good that he bowled the same delivery,” added Yadav, who now has played 77 first-class games.