Suryakumar Yadav was upset after being overlooked for the tour of Australia, but Rohit Sharma’s wise words helped him rise above the disappointment and concentrate on his game instead.

Recollecting how the Mumbai Indians captain stepped forward to comfort him after the snub, Suryakumar said: “That time in the gym Rohit was sitting beside me and he just looked at me, and I said, ‘obviously, I am a bit disappointed’…. he could see that I was expecting some good news.

“Later on he was like, ‘I just believe you have been doing a great job for the team and instead of thinking about that (non-selection), you just do the same things that you have been doing since day one of this IPL… and when the time is right, your opportunity will come, may be today or tomorrow, but it will come, you just got to believe in yourself'.”

“I really felt good because I knew how I was feeling at that time and even he (Rohit) could see it in my eyes clearly. I think to come out of that was a big boost for me,” Suryakumar added.

The non-selection, despite his prolific run in domestic cricket and the IPL, has extended Suryakumar’s wait for an India cap. The 30-year-old conceded that on the day, the team selection for the Australian tour was at the back of his mind even though he did try a few things to distract himself.

What exactly was going through his mind when he found that his name did not feature in the selected squads? “I sat in a room and started thinking why my name was not there… But after looking at the squad I found that there were lot of players who got a lot of runs as well and even they have been playing consistently,” Suryakumar said.

“Then I thought I’ll just try and keep scoring runs and wait for the opportunity,” he said.