NEWS
Follow UsSurykumar Yadav achieved what very few skippers in Indian cricket have — a clean sweep as captain in the first series. Surya-led India defeated hosts Sri Lanka in the third T20I as they defended 137 and then won the Super Over with five balls to spare. However, the dynamic batter doesn’t want to be called a captain, but rather a leader of the bunch of talented individuals.
“I said before the series, I don't want to be the captain, I want to be a leader,” reiterated the Indian captain while speaking in the post-match presentation ceremony after being named Player of the Series.
This marked Surya's fifth time receiving the award. The Indian skipper is now only one short of equalling Virat Kohli for the most Player of the Series awards in T20I history.
Surya also said that the players have made his job easy as they are so talented and full of confidence that he doesn’t need to do anything extra to get the best out of them.
“The positivity they have on the ground and in the dressing room, the care for each other that they show is unbelievable. After the last game, I said a few boys were going to rest, and they were the first ones to tell me, 'Okay, we will rest, and you can give opportunities to others.' They have made my job easy. When I go into bat, I have little pressure; I just enjoy expressing myself,” added the 33-year-old.
Surya, who was India’s top run-getter in the series with 92 in three innings, made some unbelievable bowling changes. He not only bowled Riyan Parag’s four overs (0/27) in this game as well but introduced Rinku Singh in the 19th over and himself in the 20th. Both he and Rinku picked two wickets each and defended nine off 12 balls.
Talking about his strategy for the game, Surya said, “When we were going in during the fielding session, I told them, 'I have seen such kinds of games. If we put our heart in it for one and a half hours, we can pull it off.' If you are enjoying hitting 200-220s and winning games, you should enjoy 30/4 and 70/5 as well because that creates balance in your life and that's how you move on and just be humble.”
The Mumbaikar further explained that it was not the last over that changed the game but the character shown by the batters after being 30/4 and then 48/5 to take the team near 140, that made the difference.
“More than the last over, I feel when we were around 30/4 and 48/5, how the boys showed character in the middle and took the game away from them ... I felt 140 was a par score on that track,” the Indian skipper explained.
After being 48/5, Shubman Gill (39) and Parag (26) added 54 in 40 balls to provide stability to the Indian innings. Washington Sundar then added 32 with Ravi Bishnoi to get to a competitive total of 137/9 in the end.
Sundar (25 and 2/23 in 4 overs) was adjudged Player of the Match. He also bowled the Super Over, in which he picked 2/2 and ended the Sri Lankan innings in just four balls. Speaking in his post-match interview, Sundar thanked his stars for being asked to bowl at the right time by his skipper.
“I just need to do what I am supposed to do and keep working hard every single day. We did a bit of homework against their batsmen. There was a little bit of purchase, I didn't have to do too much. I had to hit the right lengths very often,” explained the Tamil Nadu man.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here
