Kamal Ghorui
Suryakumar Yadav‘s poor run in the IPL 2026 continued on Sunday, as the Mumbai Indians batter was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the first innings of his team’s match against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Surya fell on the last ball of the third over, giving Bhuvneshwar Kumar his second wicket in two balls. The veteran pacer bowled a full delivery outside off stump with enough movement off the surface to trouble the batter. Suryakumar shuffled across and went for an attacking drive, but only managed a thick outside edge. Virat Kohli, stationed at first slip, dived low to his right and completed the catch as Mumbai Indians slipped further into trouble.Just one ball earlier, Bhuvneshwar had also dismissed Rohit Sharma, who was caught behind by Jitesh Sharma.In 11 matches this season, Suryakumar has scored 195 runs at a strike rate of 144.44.The right-handed batter was Mumbai Indians’ highest run-scorer last season with 717 runs in 16 matches.Earlier, Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first for RCB in the IPL clash at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.RCB came into the match after consecutive defeats against Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, which pushed them down to fourth place on the points table.Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, entered the game after a win over LSG where they chased down 229. However, MI remained in ninth place and needed a victory to stay alive in the tournament.“We will bowl first. Pretty obvious, the surface is good and hard. We will try to restrict them and go on the chase. Conditions are not unfamiliar, to be honest. Good supporters and great outfield, I would say, and everyone is looking forward to the game. We are going with the same team. Yes, we had a couple of losses, but we want to focus on ourselves rather than the opposition,” Patidar said during the toss.“We are pretty confident to bat first. Big ground, black soil wicket and runs on the board will always be pressure on the other team. We are going with the same team. We have always had a good chat around the bowling. It’s harsh on the bowlers. We keep trying to improve and get better each day,” MI captain Suryakumar Yadav said.
