Captain Suryakumar Yadav was quick to acknowledge that the batting unit should have been “smarter and better” after demonstrating how to bat on a rather challenging surface during India’s hard-earned 29-run victory against the USA in their opening match of the T20 World Cup on Saturday in Mumbai.
“We cannot brush everything under the carpet, we need to bat much better. After winning also, you get to learn a lot of things. Could have batted better and smarter,” PTI quoted the skipper as saying after winning the player of the match award.
India was at 77 for 6 when the captain stopped the rot and gave the total some respectability, but Suryakumar was a cut above the rest with a match-winning 49-ball 84 not out.
“Only I can tell how much pressure I was feeling but I had the belief. I knew if I bat till the end, I can make a difference,” Surya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Suryakumar believed that there was some moisture in the pitch because there was no sunlight during the day, which made things a little challenging.
“It was a little different wicket. But we knew when we woke up, there was not a lot of sun outside. The curators tried their best. There was not enough sunlight to have the pitch rolled and watered. It did not feel like it was a 180-190 wicket, it was more like a 140 wicket.,” he reasoned.
On his own performance, Suryakumar stated that he had been wanting to play the holding role for a while but that it wasn’t being carried out.
“I knew some day, it was going to come. I was trying to hold the innings for the team (in the last year) and it was not happening. I packed my kit bag (after my last innings last year), spent time with my family and then went to Nagpur, and it was a different feeling.”
Suryakumar had a decent understanding of how to bat on this pitch as he had virtually grown up playing at the Wankhede.
“I have played a lot of my cricket here, so I know how to bat on similar wickets. At 77/6, from there, you had to understand that one batter has to bat till the end. I was just trying to play good shots.”
According to USA captain Monank Patel, 130 was a realistic target on this Wankhede pitch.
“Pitch was not easy to read. The variations they bowled in the powerplay…we kept them quiet for a while. We dropped catches and that cost us. At one stage, felt we could restrict them for 130. I thought 160 was a good score (to chase on this wicket). Our top three (including him) could not perform. The intent was a bit missing because we lost wickets initially,” Monank said.
