"Since I was scoring runs, I forgot the pain" - When Suryakumar Yadav shared a bizarre tale of scoring 182* after being declared unfit

Team India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav's cricketing journey has seen numerous highs and lows. He was also involved in a bizarre, and somewhat comical situation, when he scored 182* in a local match after being declared unfit by his IPL franchise - Mumbai Indians.

The incident in question dates back to 2011. Suryakumar was declared injured by Mumbai Indians in the Champions League T20. He, however, ended up scoring has scored an unbeaten 182 in an under-22 tournament in Mumbai. The right-handed batter captained Chandrakant Pandit XI against Dilip Vengsarkar XI in a three-day match of the Shalini Bhalekar Trophy.

Revisiting the strange turn of events in 2019, Suryakumar told ESPNcricinfo that he didn't know the rules for a player who's declared unfit and hence played a local match. He explained:

"They (MI) said I was not fit, I said, 'okay, that's not a problem, then I'll go back home.' I got to know there's a local match. I was batting and wasn't feeling that much pain in my hand (he had a finger injury). So I thought I can go and play, and I got a double-hundred (182) over there. Since I was scoring runs, I forgot the pain also! But it was highlighted in next day's newspapers completely, that I'm fit for Mumbai but unfit for Mumbai Indians. I was like, 'What is happening?'."

Continuing the amazing story, the T20I batting star added that after his knock of 182*, he received a call from Mumbai Indians and was called back for the Champions League, which MI went on to win. Suryakumar elaborated:

"Then I got a call from them. They were like, 'bro, if you are unfit for a Champions League tournament, then you can't go back and play'. I said I was sincerely sorry, but I didn't know the rule. I didn't even ask anyone before playing. That was my mistake. I was under a lot of pressure and didn't know what to do.

"I called our team (Mumbai Indians) manager Rahul (Sanghvi). He told me I could go to NCA and give the fitness test. If I cleared it, I could come back to the squad. So I went and gave the fitness test, and they said I'm good to go. I came back (to the Mumbai Indians squad) and played the tournament, and we won also. That was the best thing," the right-handed batter concluded.

Suryakumar contributed a brisk 24 off 17 in the 2011 Champions League T20 final against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. Batting first, MI were all-out for 139. Skipper Harbhajan Singh, though, starred with 3-20 as RCB were bowled out for 108 in reply.

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Suryakumar is third on list of batters with most runs for Mumbai Indians in T20s

Suryakumar features at No. 3 on the list of batters with most runs for Mumbai Indians in T20s. In 98 matches, he has scored 3,033 runs at an average of 35.26 and a strike rate of 148.09, with two hundreds and 23 fifties. Only Rohit Sharma (5,731) and Kieron Pollard (3,915) have scored more runs for MI in T20s.