Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Mumbai Indians (MI) star batsman Suryakumar Yadav plays against South Africa in December After being injured during the game, he described his “boring” recovery process. How he transformed his life as he struggled to return to the cricket field. RCB and MI will engage in a thrilling showdown at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, which will feature two of the biggest superstars of Indian cricket, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma contest between.

Both teams are looking for victory. While MI opened their account after three defeats against Delhi Capitals (DC), RCB will aim to overcome a three-game losing streak, having lost to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their last match.

Suryakumar returns to competitive cricket in his first competitive cricket match since December last year against Delhi Capitals. He’s out but there’s no doubt he’ll be eager to take on RCB.

In a video posted by the official IPL X (formerly Twitter) account, Suryakumar revealed that he is battling two or three niggles: an ankle injury, a sports hernia and a right knee injury.

Suryakumar said: “I have to take it one step at a time and start with small things and I am really happy to set foot on this land. It is great to be back. There is nothing like the feeling of coming back to Wankhede alright.”

The world’s top-ranked T20I batsman said his rehab sessions were boring at first as he found it boring to do the same thing again and again, but he eventually realized that rehab sessions were important for him. A conversation with his wife and people at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) led him to work on becoming a “second version” of himself. To get better, he started sleeping on time and following a good diet.

“It’s actually a little difficult to describe the past three or three and a half months. The first two or three weeks were difficult because I felt bored doing the same thing over and over again in rehab,” he said.

“But by week four, I realized it was important to keep moving forward. It was important for me to decide how to come back.”

“When I talked to my wife and everyone at the NCA, they said it has to be a second version of yourself and when you get back on the court, you have to be different. I started doing all these little things like sleeping Be on time, follow good eating habits – that’s the most important thing,” he concluded.

Suryakumar revealed that he even started reading, something he had never done before, and connected his mind and body to the healing process to become a better version of himself.

“I had never read a book in my life, but I started doing it too. Getting up in the morning, spending quality time in rehab, focusing on everything, connecting myself, my brain, and my body with the rehab treatments that helped me recover Gotta go faster,” he said.

“I wanted to be a better version of myself and when I got injured I realized what I wanted to do. I had 2-3 months to work on myself in terms of fitness and body,” he added.

He also said he would only watch half of the team’s games in order to get to bed on time.

“It’s always difficult when your team is playing and you’re sitting in the room watching the game. I can’t say I didn’t watch the game, when I was in Bangalore I went to bed on time so watched half the game. Around 10:30 to 10:45 pm,” Suryakumar said.

“It’s difficult but at the same time, it gives me a lot of motivation and inspiration that, yes, they are playing there and I have to work on myself and my recovery and get there as quickly as possible,” he added.

Sky, as he is known to his fans, expressed his delight at returning to his home ground of Wankhede and said his first training session with the team made him feel as if he had been with them from the start of the game.

“My whole cricketing journey started here and when I entered the hotel and the stadium I never felt like I had left this place,” he said.

“On the first day, when I was practicing with the boys and everyone around me, it felt like I had been here since the start of the IPL,” he added.

Suryakumar expressed his gratitude to the NCA staff for their help in his recovery process.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)