Xtra Time Web Desk: Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav on Tuesday played a match-winning 71* to steer his team to its fourth IPL final at Chepauk. It was Yadav’s knock that paved the way for MI to a comprehensive 6 wickets win over Chennai Super Kings. The 28-year-old Mumbai batsman has come off ages and has played his role to perfection. His statistics in the tournament so far speaks for itself. He has scored 409 runs in 15 matches at an average of 34.08 with only two fifties. But the interesting aspect of his batting this season has been he has shrugged off his flamboyant batting which was associated with him during his stint with Kolkata Knight Riders with whom he has won the cash-rich league in 2014. If Mumbai Indians go on to be the champions this season, the Mumbaikar will be part of two IPL winning franchise. Suryakumar returned to Mumbai Indians for the 11th season of the cash-rich league and immediately made an impact. In a season where the franchise failed to qualify for the playoffs, Suryakumar shone with his performances at the top of the order. Asked to open the batting, Suryakumar excelled in his role and scored over 500 runs (512 runs in 14 matches) in 2018, including four fifties. On Tuesday when all the other Mumbai batsmen found it tough to score on a sluggish Chepauk pitch, Suryakumar negated the threats posed by Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja with ease. MI captain Rohit Sharma heaped lavish praise on Yadav, saying that he is one of the best players of spin bowling for his team. “He’s (Surya) probably one of our best batsmen against spin. We knew the spin threat they possess will be a huge factor. Surya plays spin very well. I have seen him at close quarters. The shots he plays behind the wicket, those are not easy shots. Always knew he was going to come good at some stage,” Rohit said after the match.