World No.1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav has recently returned to action (in the IPL) after being on the sidelines for close to three months as he was recovering from sports hernia, an ankle surgery and right knee pain at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

Reflecting on the time spent on the entire rehab process, Yadav said it helped him “grow as a person and athlete”.

“It’s a little difficult to describe the last three months. It has helped me grow as a person and athlete. For the first two-three weeks. I felt very bored doing the same thing during rehab. From the fourth and fifth week onwards, I realised it is important going forward. It was important to decide how I wanted to come back,” Yadav said.

The Mumbai Indians star suffered an ankle injury during the South Africa tour in December and was also diagnosed with a sports hernia that required surgery in January. Since then, he’s spent much of the past three months in Bengaluru with the NCA’s medical staff.

Elaborating on his rehab process, Yadav said it transformed him as a person focussing more on eating right, giving his body enough rest and picking up certain things he hadn’t done before, like reading a book.

“When I spoke to my wife, all the people at NCA, they said it has to be the second version of yourself. You have to be a little different when you come back on the field. I started doing small things, like sleeping on time, following a good diet,” he said.

“I’d never read a book in my life, but I started doing that as well. Getting up in the morning, spending good quality time at the rehab centre, focusing on everything, connecting myself, my brain and body with the rehab, it helped me really well to recover faster because I had two-three niggles together,” he added.

Suryakumar, who missed MI’s opening three games that ended in losses, admitted to feeling helpless watching his side’s faulty start, but hopes to make a turnaround on his return.

“It’s always difficult sitting and watching when your team is playing. I watched half the games, because I was sleeping on time, by 10-10.30pm. I used to watch only half the innings. Of course, I’d watch the whole game the next day,” he said.