Although captain Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged that India’s batting has been a little shaky in the first two games of the current T20 World Cup, he was optimistic that he could nullify Usman Tariq of Pakistan, whom he referred to as a “out-of-syllabus question” in an exam.
“See, sometimes there is a question in the exam as well which is out of syllabus. So, we can’t leave that question. To tackle that, you have to adopt your own way. Yes, he is a different character when he comes to bowl,” PTI quoted the Indian skipper as saying at the pre-match press conference.
“But at the same time, we can’t just surrender. We practice with similar types of bowlers and similar actions. We will try to execute what we are practicing in the net sessions,” said Suryakumar.
After the USA had reduced India to 77/6, Namibia exposed some weaknesses in their batting by taking five wickets for four runs in the last overs in the next match.
The Indian batters will now face the Pakistani spin battery, led by Tariq, whose peculiar pause and delivery action has sparked controversy regarding its legality in the cricket community. The match is scheduled for Sunday at the slow-burning Premadasa surface in Colombo.
“We had a scratchy start. You can’t run away from the fact that it was not a proper T20 wicket. But I said earlier too that you can’t actually brush everything under the carpet. There is no excuse. But we came back strongly. So, that’s the beauty of T20 cricket. One or two batters I think taking that responsibility makes us cross the line,” Suryakumar said on the eve of the match.
However, Surya was aware that Pakistan’s spinners would put his team to the test. The Mumbai cricketer added that controlling pivotal moments and maintaining composure are key to playing against Pakistan.
“Yes, there will be pressure. As I said, you can’t run away from the fact that there won’t be any pressure. There will be nerves, butterflies in the stomach when we start the game tomorrow. But yeah, at the same time, if there’s no pressure, no nerves, then there’s no fun to play cricket. And yeah, it’s a big occasion. But yeah, I mean, every time I say the same thing, at the end of the day, it’s just another game. You have to pack your skills, play some good cricket, focus on what you want to do better, and we’ll see what happens,” SKY said.
Surya stated that the team would adhere to the well-known pattern of aggressive cricket regardless of the pitch’s characteristics. Even though Surya was aware that Pakistan had been in Sri Lanka for the past two weeks, he was unfazed and relied on his team’s experience to win.
“They might have some edge. But as I said, we have come here before, we have played in these conditions, we know how the pitch plays, similar conditions to India. It’s like the same situation for both the teams. See, it’s definitely challenging when you come to Sri Lanka. But then at the end of the day, you have to challenge yourself, somehow find a solution and come out good,” he noted.
