Tilak Varma-Suryakumar Yadav Visit Ayodhya Ram Mandir, Picture Goes Viral

The distance between Lucknow and Ayodhya is around 2 hours and 40 minutes, and the cricketers seemingly took a day off to visit the spiritual site.

The Mumbai Indians team had checked into Lucknow on Wednesday.

After beginning their season on a low with two consecutive defeats, the five-time champions roared back to winning ways against the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders.

Suryakumar has been in brilliant form, showing his explosive batting in Mumbai’s dominating eight-wicket win against Kolkata.

Chasing a paltry target of 117, Suryakumar’s unbeaten 27 off just nine deliveries gave the perfect finishing touch as he sealed the victory over Kolkata.

While South Africa batter Ryan Rickelton’s unbeaten 62 off 41 deliveries was crucial in guiding Mumbai’s chase, it was Suryakumar’s brilliant shot against Andre Russell that left the crowd and experts in awe.

Apart from sealing the match for Mumbai, Suryakumar’s blazing innings marked a personal milestone as well as he crossed 8000 runs in T20s.

Five-time champions Mumbai haven’t clicked till now in IPL 2025, with just two points from three matches.

With both Mumbai and Lucknow placed with a solitary victory each in three matches, the contest could boil down to who exploits the conditions better on the day.

Given that the curators have not been providing tailor-made tracks to the home teams, something that has caused frustration of the coaches and players in some teams, the franchise that gets a head-start with the bat or ball in the power play overs could call the shots.

Lucknow, placed sixth behind Mumbai, haven’t hit their stride following their demoralising one-wicket loss to the Delhi Capitals.

Ashwani Kumar had starred for Mumbai against Kolkata with four wickets on his IPL debut and a lot of eyes will be on him to see if he can pull off a similar performance against Lucknow.