India national cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav took the blame after his team’s defeat in the second T20I of the five-match series against the South Africa national cricket team.
Suryakumar Yadav openly said that he cannot always depend on explosive left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma to lead India to victory with his brilliant innings at the top of the order.
I mean, we bowled first and we couldn’t do much – Suryakumar Yadav
In the match, India won the toss and decided to bowl first. They did a poor job as the key fast bowlers – Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah – struggled and South Africa posted a mammoth score of 213/4.
Chasing the target, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar and Hardik Pandya failed and despite excellent batting from Tilak Verma, India were all out for 162 in 19.1 overs.
During the post-match presentation ceremony, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said that they could not do a good job with the ball. He said:
“Think we should have batted then. I mean, we bowled first and we couldn’t do much. We could have made a good comeback because we bowled first and then later on they realized how important lengths are on this wicket.”
I myself think, Shubman, we could have given a good start – Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav said that he is learning from the defeat and trying to move in the right direction. He said:
“But yes, it’s a learning process. Just learn and move on. Even a little bit of dew and if it wasn’t working, we should have made another plan, but we didn’t go to that. But that’s okay. Like I said, it’s a learning process. We learned how they bowled in the second innings. We learned from that and then we try to implement it in the next game.”
Suryakumar blamed himself and Shubman Gill for the team’s failure in the batting department. He said:
“I think, Shubman, we could have given a good start because we can’t rely on Abhishek all the time. The way he is batting, he might have had an off day. Me, Shubman and some other batsmen should have taken it. I think it would have been a smart chase.”
Shubman out on first ball- Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav also said that he should have taken responsibility after Shubman Gill was out on zero. He said:
“But still it’s okay, Shubman got out on the very first ball. But yes, I should have taken this responsibility, batted a little deeper.”
Suryakumar also explained the reason behind promoting Akshar Patel to number 3 position. He said:
“But yes, as I said, we learn, we try and do better in the next game coming. We just thought that in the last game, we saw Axar bat really well in the longer format. And we wanted him to bat the same way today. Unfortunately (it didn’t work), but he batted well. But we will see what happens for us in the next game.”
Also Read: Jitesh Sharma survives awkward moment when ball hits the bails but doesn’t fall in IND vs SA 2nd T20I
