Suryakumar reveals the game changing moment
Suryakumar Yadav’s heart is beating with joy when he sees his teammates care for each other, as he begins his journey from being the captain of the cricket team to becoming a leader of men. In his first series as a full-time T20 captain, Suryakumar Yadav won the ‘Player of the Series’ award after two brilliant knocks in the first two matches, but getting two wickets with his off-breaks in a thrilling Super Over win was the icing on the cake.
Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation ceremony
As I said before the series, I don’t want to be a captain, I want to be a leader. He could not stop praising his teammates, who showed great guts in defending a modest score of 137. The amount of skill they have, the confidence, it makes my job easier. The positivity, the care for each other is unbelievable. After the last game, I said that some of the boys will be rested and they were ready to sit out.
They have made my job easier. There is very little pressure on me when I bat, he said. The Indian captain said that the way one enjoys big scores of 220 or 230, he should also start enjoying low-scoring games which is like bringing balance in life.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka had no answer to this
I think even more than the last over, when we were around 30/4 and 48/5, the way the boys showed character, a score of 140 was par on that track. I said, if we put our hearts into it, we can achieve it. Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka had no answer to what went wrong in the middle order in all three matches. “Definitely, really disappointed, especially the middle order and lower middle order.
Very poor shot selection. The thinking was that the spinners were bowling and that’s why Wanindu Hasaranga came in the upper order and we gave him the freedom to hit one or two boundaries, Asalanka said. I think we played some wrong shots and when the ball gets old, the shot selection has to be right. We cannot make excuses and we have to do even more than that. I want to see a good batting performance in ODIs and I think the boys will do better, the disappointed Sri Lankan captain said.
A new style as captain
Everyone expected Suryakumar to score runs, but no one thought that he would make an immediate impact as captain by bringing a new style of captaincy and encouraging his players to perform to their potential.
Suryakumar handed Washington Sundar to bowl in the crucial Super Over of the third and final T20 match against Sri Lanka and the all-rounder did not disappoint his captain and helped become the Player of the Match by taking two wickets and leading his team to victory.
India’s new captain also made the bold decision to use Rinku Singh’s spin in the final over of the match when Sri Lanka needed just nine runs to win and then when he bowled the final six balls himself, forcing the series to go into a Super Over, it caught the eye even more. Parag further elaborated that Suryakumar has brought a new mantra to the group, which has made the series win a fun experience for everyone.
It was fun,” Parag said
Actually we didn’t feel nervous. We planned it in a very fun way, it was very spontaneous, Rinku bhai bowled the 19th over. I was pretty sure (Mohammed) Siraj bhai was going to bowl the last over, but then Surya bhai came to bowl and took it to the Super Over.
So I think everyone was quite calm. We were having fun. That’s a motto of ours as well. We are being ruthless, but we have fun and enjoy the game and that’s why we were able to pull it off today.
In his first series as a full-time T20 captain, Suryakumar won the ‘Player of the Series’ award after two brilliant knocks in the first two matches, but taking two wickets with his off-breaks in a thrilling Super Over win was the icing on the cake. He couldn’t stop praising his teammates, who showed great guts in defending a modest 137-run score.
The amount of skill and confidence they have – it makes my job easy. The care they show for each other is incredible. They make my job easy and when I go out to bat, there is a lot less pressure on me and I express myself. I don’t want to be a captain. I want to be a leader.
Conclusion
Suryakumar Yadav’s reign as India’s T20 captain is still in its infancy, but the dynamic white-ball batsman is already winning praise for his leadership skills and ability to adapt quickly during matches. Suryakumar’s first real test of captaincy ended in Pallekele on Tuesday when India completed a 3-0 series sweep over Sri Lanka as the new skipper handled his first proper assignment brilliantly.
Not only did Suryakumar finish the series as his team’s leading run-scorer and pick up the Player of the Series award, but the 33-year-old also made an instant impact in the captaincy role, bringing his own leadership style to the job that fell vacant following Rohit Sharma’s T20I retirement.
