‘Purposely played six batters, wanted to have five perfect bowlers’: Suryakumar after loss to NZ in 4th T20I

VISAKHAPATNAM: Following his side’s 50-run loss to New Zealand in the fourth T20I, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav explained that the team deliberately played six batters in order to accommodate a combination of five full-fledged bowlers and to challenge themselves in high-pressure run chases.

With the series in their pocket, India imploded at Visakhapatnam as fine spells from Mitchell Santner, Jacob Duffy, and Ish Sodhi gave the Kiwis a consolation win by 50 runs, keeping the series scoreline at 3-1. During a chase of 216 runs, only Shivam Dube (65 in 23 balls, with three fours and seven sixes) was the one who could give New Zealand a real scare with his six-hitting ability.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Suryakumar said that the team also wanted to challenge themselves during a big run chase in case wickets went down early.

Suryakumar Yadav said “We purposely played 6 batters today, we wanted to challenge ourselves – for example chasing 180 or 200, as well wanted to see, if we are 2 down or 3 down, we wanted to play all the players who are part of the T20 World Cup”. pic.twitter.com/BCgNcuCi3U

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“I feel we purposely played six batters today. We wanted to have five perfect bowlers and wanted to challenge ourselves. Like for example, if we are chasing 200 or 180, and we wanted to see if we were two down or three down, how does it look? But then it is fine at the end of the day. And we wanted to play all the players who are part of the World Cup squad. Otherwise, we would have played other ones”.

“We have been batting really well when we have batted first. So I wanted the guys to take that responsibility if we are chasing 180 or 200, and two wickets or three wickets are down and see how we bat. So it’s a good challenge. Hopefully, if we get an opportunity again, we might chase again”, he added.

Suryakumar also noted that dew on the surface and certain partnerships, particularly Shivam Dube’s innings, could have changed the outcome.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to field first. Knocks from Tim Seifert (62 in 36 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Devon Conway (44 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes), who put on a century stand and a fiery cameo from Daryl Mitchell (39 * in 18 balls, with two fours and three sixes) sent NZ to 215/7 in 20 overs, with Arshdeep Singh (2/33) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/39) being top bowlers.

India was down 55/3 during the run-chase, with Abhishek Sharma gone for a golden duck, Sanju Samson (24 in 15 balls, with three fours and a six) failing to make his start count. Shivam gave the Kiwis a scare, taking India to 140-odd in 15 overs, but after his wicket fell, India was bundled out for 165 in 18.4 overs.

For New Zealand, Mitchell Santner (3/26), Jacob Duffy (2/33), and Ish Sodhi (2/46) led the bowling effort, while Tim Seifert earned the ‘Player of the Match’ award. (ANI)