Tendulkar took away all the pressure I had in me: Yadav

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Suryakumar Yadav said he was keen to prove himself and wanted to make the opportunity count © AFP

By CricketCountry Staff

Chennai: Oct 9, 2011

Suryakumar Yadav, who was forced to miss the early part of the Champions League T20 tournament due to an injury, said it was Sachin Tendulkar’s pep talk that took the pressure off him during the semi-final encounter.

“I spoke with him in the team meeting and also had a one-on-one session with him. He took away all the pressure and nervousness that I had in me. He just told me to treat this as another domestic game and that as I get runs and spend more time in the middle, I'll be fine,” Yadav said.

Yadav replaced Andrew Symonds in the semi-finals and responded with an unbeaten 23 that helped the Mumbai-based team to a match-winning total against Somerset.

“I'm very happy that I could step up when the team needed it the most. I was just waiting for my chance. I had to sit out for a while due to injury but I was keen to prove myself and today I had the perfect situation to make this opportunity count.

“I was very high on confidence and it was lifted further by the senior players in the side. They backed me during the training sessions saying you look really confident and you'll surely do well. I wanted to live up to that and I'm happy with whatever I could do for the team,” he said.

Yadav admitted he was under pressure replacing Andrew Symonds but revealed it was the Australia him-self who motivated him.

“The pressure was there but I sought the advice of the very player I was replacing and he was truly supportive. He motivated me a lot before I went in to bat. He gave me some nice batting tips and taught me how to make the bowler do what you want him to do. It really helped me when I was batting out there.

The Mumbai U-22 player revealed that he was excited to play in a major tournament like the CLT20.

“I am really excited to play the CLT20 final even if it was any other team but playing against the IPL team with so many Indian players will be fun,” Yadav concluded.