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'I was nervous, and it should be that way, if you don't get nervous, how would you perform?'
Flamboyant India and Mumbai Indians batman Suryakumar Yadav, who made his international debut against England after a lengthy wait on the sidelines, recalled being nervous on the momentous day but a simple advice to self calmed him down.
"Be yourself," he remembered telling himself on that day.
Yadav made a brisk 57 in his second T20 game at Ahmedabad after he did not get to bat in his debut match.
"If you would have seen properly, I was very excited at that time. Also, I was not happy at that time since Rohit (Sharma) had got out, but when I was going to bat, I was running in, so that shows how excited I was," the 30-year-old said in a video posted by Mumbai Indians on Twitter.
Yadav, who has now played three T20 Internationals, said that he recollected his achievements at the No 3 spot in domestic cricket and in the IPL while coming out to bat for the first time in India colours.
"When I padded up and came to the dug-out, I was nervous, and it should be that way, if you don't get nervous, how would you perform?" he said.
"When I was going inside, everything started running in my mind, what I have done when I bat at three. I got my answer when I said to myself 'don't do anything different, do the same thing – be yourself, that's it'," the stylish right-handed batsman stated.
Yadav made a smashing start in international cricket with an incredible scoop shot six off English pacer Jofra Archer.
"...people speak about the six, what were you feeling on the first ball after making India debut. It was necessary to be a bit calm and I knew what Archer had been doing in the IPL, how he comes hard at the batters.
"So, at the back of the mind there was a thought that he would bowl that particular ball and good that he bowled the same delivery," added Mumbai Indians' middle order batsman Yadav.