Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya hailed Suryakumar Yadav after their seven-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday. SKY was able to put on a masterclass knock as he scored 102 runs off just 51 balls to help his team chase down the target of 174.

The talisman smashed a dozen fours and six maximums in his blistering knock. MI found themselves under the cosh at 31-3 after Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir were dismissed cheaply but SKY stitched a fine alliance of 143 runs with Tilak Varma, who scored 37 runs.

Yadav played a typical knock, scoring runs all around the dial. The right-hander completed his fifty off just 30 balls and then got to his hundred with six off 51 balls.

Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation, “It’s unbelievable, the best past of SKY is that he puts the bowlers under pressure. It’s sheer confidence, his game has changed, is one of the best batters. He can change a game in a different way, lucky to have him (SKY) in our side.”

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya returned with impressive figures of 3-31 as he accounted for Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Marco Jansen. Furthermore, Piyush Chawla also bagged three wickets in his fine spell, removing Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad.

Pandya added, “We want to focus on playing good cricket, still think we gave 10-15 runs extra. The way our batters batted, was excellent. My bowling, I like to bowl in the right areas, I bowl according to the situation. Bowled in the right areas today and it worked. I was like Chawla had to bowl from the shorter side. He (Chawla) had to be accurate, the margin of errors has become smaller these days for the bowlers.”

Mumbai Indians will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday.