Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will kick off their IPL 2024 campaign against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 24. Ahead of their IPL opener, the franchise have received a massive blow with Suryakumar Yadav missing the first match.
This setback for the Mumbai-based franchise comes after the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru did not clear him to participate in the T20 league. According to reports, the top ranked T20I player underwent a fitness test on Tuesday, March 19. The NCA management has reportedly withheld his clearance, preventing him to fulfil his IPL commitments and will now appear for his next test on Thursday, March 21.
Earlier on Monday, MI Head Coach Mark Boucher had also hinted that Suryakumar Yadav could miss a few matches. Speaking at the pre-season press conference alongside MI captain Hardik Pandya, Boucher said, “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.”
Suryakumar Yadav shares cryptic post; raises concerns on his IPL participation
Just hours prior to reports on NCA denying him clearance, Suryakumar Yadav took to Instagram to share a cryptic post. The No. 1 T20I batter, who has been out of action since leading India to a 1-1 series draw against South Africa, SKY took to Instagram, sharing a heartbroken emoji, which has been doing rounds on social media.
This not only went viral, but even left fans questioning his participation under doubt in the IPL 2024.