The Eden Gardens had gone a little quiet when Manish Pandey was out caught by Kieron Pollard in the 12th over. Pandey had played a promising hand of 40, but left when his team still required 71 from the last eight overs. Enter Suryakumar Yadav at No.4. It took just one ball for Yadav to get his eye in; the next was dispatched for a six over deep square leg with a touch of Viv Richards in it. Kolkata Knight Riders’ ‘finisher’ would later watch his captain Gautam Gambhir get to a half century but leave him stranded at one end a while later with a daunting task at hand.

For Yadav though, the target was just another number that he would whiff off with his nimble wrists and effortless stroke play. Half an hour and five sixes later, he hit a crisp drive to the extra cover boundary to win it for KKR. The arms were up in the air, a signal to the dressing room was made - a mode of thanks perhaps for promoting him up the batting order. Yadav is a proud and relieved man as he walks back to the dressing room with nothing but content and smiles to share with his teammates. He is hugged by the team management; their faith in the youngster has paid off.

It is the calm that has helped him prevail, agrees Suryakumar Yadav in a chat with IPLT20.com after the game. But how does he maintain his composure in the most intense situations? How does he define pressure? Does he talk to himself and bifurcate targets to precision to get the job done for the team? Here’s a sneak peek into Yadav’s psyche as a batsman when faced with pressure cooker situations.

You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the IPL could you?

Absolutely right! It is a great head start for us in this IPL. As defending champions there was a lot of pressure on us as to how we will start this tournament. But we have done well to come out winning our very first game. We were just calm throughout the game, because we knew it was our home game and we could handle the pressure pretty well. Each and every player in this team knows their role pretty well and that has also been instrumental in the win.

You usually walk out to bat towards the fag end of the innings. Tell us about your batting promotion to No.4 today.

Today I was being promoted up the order and given an opportunity by the captain and the support staff. Any player in any team would like to bat at the top of the order in this format. I am grateful to them for that. The team management has given me a lot of confidence over the last year. I have got a great chance here with KKR and I am trying to finish games for the team. I hope I have played my role well for this game and am confident there are many more performances to come in the games to come.

The top four batsmen are crucial to any team’s success. Jacques Kallis has batted at the top four for KKR in the past. Did he share a few thoughts with you tonight before you walked out to bat?

What Jacques Kallis did for the team is unexplainable. He has been a thorough legend for KKR and his national side over the years. He is always there to give the right advices. Kallis just asked me to recall all the games that I had won for KKR in the past. He asked me to have fond memories of the times I have finished games for the side which would help me finish the game today as well. That is exactly what I did tonight. The moment the match got over when I walked back to the dressing room, I was told by the management that I was very calm today. Being calm under pressure situations really helps and if you stay calm it gets easier for you to react to situations.

Where have you developed that kind of calmness from? Do you look up to any cricketer and try to imbibe their calmness in your game?

When it comes to calmness I look up to our captain Gautam Gambhir. Whenever he has been under pressure, he has always come up with stellar performances. He is the one who I have been watching over the last year. He takes his time at the start of the innings while batting but in the end he makes it count and makes sure that the team is on the positive side. Also, Gambhir is someone who is never satisfied with his performance. He always wants more which is something I am trying to learn from him.

Secondly I look up to MS Dhoni. Whenever he has won games for India or the Chennai Super Kings, he has been very calm. These are two individuals I look up to when it comes to calmness. They both are very quiet. They talk to themselves and they know they are going to get the job done for their team. That is the confidence I like in both of them.

Do you talk to yourself while batting as well?

I do a lot of talking with myself when I bat. Today I was just telling myself to take the game till the last over because it was a pressure situation for both teams. Both teams could have won it from there. I wanted to give myself a chance, play out some balls, stay till the end and finish the game for my side. I just tried to play my natural game. I know for a fact that if I am not getting runs in the first ten balls I can always cover it up with my strokes in the next ten. That is kind of a mantra for me when I go out to bat. I have been trying to finish games for KKR in the past and I have been successful and unsuccessful (at other times). I hope this is the start towards finishing more games for the side.

What are the things that have you realised about your batting?

I have kept everything simple in my game. I don’t complicate things in my brain because I know my areas of strength and the deliveries I can hit for sixes. If I don’t play to my strengths then I would have to modify my game and try to score differently. In the morning before the game, Gambhir told me to keep things as simple as I could. He asked me not to worry and egged me to keep batting. I did just that.