Suryakumar Yadav is one of India’s top rated batters in white-ball cricket currently and the player’s performances in the IPL over the years have catapulted him to success and eventually landed him a place in the Indian team. Suryakumar has been a force to reckon with at Mumbai Indians but it was at Kolkata Knight Riders that the batter had first shown signs of becoming an elite T20 player.

In a conversation with seasoned cricket presenter Gaurav Kapur, on his show “Breakfast with Champions”, Suryakumar revealed how he got his nickname “SKY” and who gave it to him.

“I found out about this name much later. I had not paid a lot of attention to it. In 2014 when I went to Kolkata Knight Riders, there Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) started calling me SKY. He called me SKY from behind a couple of times and I didn’t react.

“When I looked at him he said ‘I am calling you, haven’t you checked out your initials’. That is when I realised it comes out to be SKY,” Suryakumar said while talking about how he got his nickname.

Asked about Gautam Gambhir’s role in his rise, Suryakumar said that Gambhir put him on the right track.

Promoted

“When I left Mumbai Indians and went to KKR in 2014, Gambhir looked at me and felt that he could guide me and put me on the right track and he did that,” Suryakumar said.

The middle order batter has been in good form this season too but his team Mumbai Indians have had a forgettable tournament so far, losing all six of their matches thus far.