Suryakumar's mantra before Pakistan game: 'Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep'

Suryakumar Yadav doesn't do press conferences. He does "press conference stand-ups." Or so it seemed on Friday night, shortly after India overcame a serious challenge from Oman in Abu Dhabi - the first time in three games that they were stretched at the 2025 Asia Cup.

Suryakumar was himself a spectator when India batted, allowing all the others to get some time in the middle even though India lost eight wickets. On the field, at times, he resembled a police inspector, furiously waving and shuffling his fielders in certain pockets as Oman began to get going in their chase of 189.

After the game, he turned into a motivational speaker. Sulakshan Kulkarni, or "Sullu sir" - among Suryakumar's first coaches in the senior Mumbai team, now Oman's assistant coach - requested him to chat with the Oman players.

Suryakumar gestured to them to join him near the middle. In a jiffy, they were all around him, smiling away and hanging on to every word. Suryakumar answered their questions, visited Oman's dressing room, signed autographs, clicked pictures and then wished them luck for the T20 World Cup Qualifiers next month.

It's after all this that Suryakumar was reminded he had one more job left for the night. He had to do a "pre-match" press conference for the Pakistan game, a ritual that would have otherwise been reserved for Saturday. But the long commute back from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and the need for some rest, with hardly any recovery time, meant he had to turn on his press conference mode quickly.

The first question was about shutting out the noise ahead of the Pakistan game on Sunday. How do you zone out, he was asked.

"Close your room, switch off your phone and sleep," he laughed. Everyone in the room laughed too, and then he continued. "Of course, it's not always possible. You meet a lot of friends, you go out to dinner. You have other players also around who like to see all these things. So it's very difficult, but then it's on you. What you want to listen to, what you want to have in your mind.

"But I have been very clear with all the boys. I think it's very important. If you want to do well in this tournament and going forward, we will have to shut out a lot of noise from outside. And take what is good for you.

"I'm not saying shut the noise completely, but take what is good for you. Someone can give you good advice as well, which can help you in the game, which can help you on the ground. So I think that is very important for me. And rest, I feel everyone is in a good space."

So far, so good. But it was just the start. Soon enough, he was asked about the "big build-up" to round two on Sunday.

"Build-up? Match is in 24 hours, yaar (dude)! Who has time for build-up?" he laughed.

At the toss for the Oman game, Suryakumar had joked about having become like Rohit Sharma, forgetting about his team changes. He channeled peak Rohit at the press conference too, when asked if the India vs Pakistan rivalry is the same, like it was in 2003?

"I don't know, I wasn't there," he said. "But when I see a full stadium, I just tell the boys it's time for entertainment!"

The questions kept coming. Someone even complimented India for doing well, "with bat, ball and baaki cheezein (other things)." The hint was the no-handshake gesture at the toss which has since snowballed into a massive controversy.

"Baaki cheezein? What is that, bhai?" Suryakumar grinned. The room cracked up again.

As the laughter died down, he was asked differently if India would do the same in the next match what they did in the previous game against Pakistan. Quite the roundabout way of asking if they won't shake hands.

Suryakumar threw a humorous spin to it.

"By doing the same, you mean with the ball, right? Then fine," he laughed. "It's a good intensity contest. Like I said in the last question, the stadium is full. You get the best crowds. Put your best foot forward for the country and enjoy the game."

Then, there was a cricketing question. One of the few that weren't specifically on India vs Pakistan or the noise, or the controversies. It was on how they were trying to draw a balance between giving players opportunities against resting some of them, like Varun Chakravarthy, who played the first two games and missed the one against Oman.

"He did bowl a lot in the nets yesterday," Suryakumar said. "That's his routine. If he's playing or not playing, he likes to come to the ground, bowl around 8-10 overs. Today [on Friday] also in the warm-up, he was almost pumped up.

"It felt like he was playing the game. I had to tell him, 'Macha (dude), you're taking a rest today. But his preparations are spot on. Irrespective of whether he's playing or not. One thing which is different from everyone is his preparation. I feel he's always ready to play the game."

After expertly tackling everything he could on the India vs Pakistan topic, just when questions appeared to drift towards the cricket, it veered off again. It was mentioned to him that the last India vs Pakistan game had created "anger" within the country, followed by "happiness" after what they did.

"We won the match, no? That's why," he said.

The clincher was when he was asked about India's plans going into the "business end" of the competition.

"Business end? Arre, it has just started!"