India, June 8 -- Suryakumar Yadav was Mumbai's captain during their floundering campaign when the team arrived at Delhi's Karnail Singh Stadium in 2014. The weather was cold, and the outfield wet. Mumbai, still reeling from a shock defeat to Jammu & Kashmir, were desperate to turn things around. With only 8.2 overs bowled on the opening day, time was running out. And to make matters worse, the venue's giant Supersopper stopped working.

That's when the skipper led from the front. He assembled a group of players, including veteran Abhishek Nayar, and stepped barefoot into the puddles, carrying buckets to help dry the area themselves. With coach Pravin Amre directing traffic, Surya grabbed a couple of sponges, cut them into smaller pieces w...