Suryakumar Yadav refuses to take credit for bowling impeccable last over ahead of Siraj: ‘I’m not captain, I’m a leader’
Suryakumar Yadav picked up a couple of wickets and gave away only five runs in the last over to take the India vs Sri Lanka 3rd T20I to Super Over.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav refused to take credit for deciding to bowl the last over in the third T20I against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. When Sri Lanka needed six runs to win in the last over with four wickets in hand, Surya decided to introduce himself into the attack instead of going to his premier fast bowler, Mohammed Siraj, who still had an over left. It turned out to be a masterstroke. Surya picked up a couple of wickets and gave away only five runs to take the match to the Super Over.
It was one-way traffic in the Super over as Washington Sundar dismissed Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka in just three balls. Chasing three to win, Suryakumar hit a boundary off the first ball to finish things off and take the series 3-0.
When Surya was asked about his unexpected decision to bowl the last over, the Indian T20I captain said the credit for the victory goes to Shubman Gill and Riyan Parag’s partnership because it ensured India reached 137 after being reduced to 48/5.
“I think more than the last over, when we were 30 for 4 and 48 for 5, the way we showed character [with the bat]. 140 was a par score on this track. I told them I’ve seen such kinds of games and I told the boys if you put your heart into it, you can pull it off,” Surya said.
In his first series as full-time T20I captain, Suryakumar won the ‘Player of The Series’ award after two brilliant knocks in the first two games, but getting two wickets with his off-breaks in a thrilling Super Over win was an icing on the cake. He couldn’t stop praising his teammates, who showed a lot of heart in defending a modest 137.
“The amount of skill they have and self-confidence they have – it makes my job easy. The care for each other they show is unbelievable. They made my job easy and when I go into bat, I have little pressure and I just express myself. I don’t want to be the captain. I want to be the leader,” he added.
Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka didn’t have an answer as to what went wrong with the middle-order in all three games.
“Definitely, really disappointed, especially the middle-order and lower-middle order. Very bad shot selection. The thinking was spinners were bowling and that’s why Wanindu Hasaranga came up the order and we gave him the license to hit one or two boundaries,” Asalanka said.
“I think especially we played some wrong shots and when the ball gets old, the shot selection has to be spot on. We can’t give excuses and we have to do more than this. “I want to see good batting performance in ODIs and I think the boys will do better,” the dejected Lankan skipper added.
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