India’s T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, acknowledged his lack of runs on Sunday, but he did not consider it a sign of poor form, stating that runs will arrive sooner rather than later.
In the third Twenty20 International at Dharamsala, India defeated South Africa by 7 wickets, and Suryakumar hit an 11-ball 12 before being dismissed by Lungi Ngidi.
With the exception of his 75 against Bangladesh in Hyderabad on October 24 and an undefeated 47 against Pakistan during the Asia Cup in September, it increased his streak of low scores to 21 innings.
“I’ve been batting beautifully in the nets. When the runs have to come, they’ll come. Not out of form, definitely out of runs,” said Suryakumar in the post-match presentation.
With two games left against South Africa, the outing also brought Suryakumar’s 2025 T20I average down to a pitiful 14.20.
However, he was pleased with how India recovered from the loss in the second Twenty20 International.
“I think this sport teaches you a lot of things. How you come back into the series is more important. And we did the same thing, we wanted to go back to basics, do the same things we were doing in Cuttack, and the results were on our side.”
“See, there was a lot of learning from the game we played in (New) Chandigarh. The bowlers sat together, we had a good team meeting as well,” he noted.
Arshdeep Singh, the player of the match, claimed that after an ordinary outing in New Chandigarh, he simply used his tried-and-true fundamental strategies.
“…just sticking to the basics, and trusting my skill set. When you play at this level, there are some days when you won’t execute the things you want to do. It was one off day (last game), so it feels nice to do this (bowl well in this game).”
“I just pitched the ball in the right areas and tried to get as much help from the wicket. There was some help in the wicket, the conditions were cold as well, so there was enough swing and seam,” he said.
The left-arm pacer dedicated the award to his 10-month-old niece, who was present at the stadium with her parents.
“My niece is here, she’s ten-months old, and I want to dedicate this award to her,” he said with a wide grin.
Aiden Markram, the captain of South Africa, praised Indian bowlers for a superb performance that severely damaged his team’s top order.
“They (Indian pacers) got the ball in the right areas and before you know it we were 4-5 down. If we get similar conditions, we have to put pressure back. Credit to them. They didn’t give us much to score off. I tried to take it deep. Whole time I thought if I got us to 140-150 it’d have been a closer game,” said Markram.
Markram acknowledged that South Africa lost the match after Indian opener Abhishek Sharma scored 35 off of 18 balls.
“Credit to Abhi for coming off. We weren’t in the right areas in the first 3-4 overs. But it was a positive to stretch the game by bowling good lengths later,” he said.
Spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who slowed down South Africa by taking two wickets in the middle overs, claimed that the pitch’s sliding quality aided his bowling.
“It was doing a bit for the seamers. Other than that, tough conditions. Never played in a ground that’s this chill. I was trying to stick to my strength. The ball was skidding more than turning, that’s what I tried to do it,” he said.
Chakravarthy claimed that following a lackluster performance in the second game in Mullanpur (New Chandigarh), the bowlers and the team management had an honest discussion.
“We had a bowling meeting and some honest conversations. Credit to management and bowlers for a two-way conversation. Oh! I was not aware that I got past 50 T20I wickets, but it really feels good,” he added.
