Despite him being at the receiving end of on-field umpire’s soft signal call, India batsman Suryakumar Yadav on Thursday (March 18) said he was not disappointed with his dismissal in the fourth T20I against England.
Batting at No. 3, Suryakumar opened his account with a maximum over fine leg off Jofra Archer and then went on to smash a dazzling half-century.
The right-hander slammed 57 off 31 balls before a controversial umpiring call ended his innings. His knock was studded with 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Thanks to his innings, the hosts posted a competitive 185/8 in their allotted 20 overs and eventually won the game by 8 runs.
“Very happy with the way the things went outside. My plan was really clear when I went out to bat. I have seen Archer in the last two-three seasons in the IPL, I watched all of his games, whenever a new batsman comes in, what plans he has, obviously I had my plans as well,” Suryakumar quoted as saying by ANI during a virtual press conference.
“It was a great opportunity for me to bat at number three for India. Yeah, I knew he will come a little short at me, I am really happy with the way things went. Regarding my dismissal, not really disappointed because few things are not in my control. Things that are in my control, I try to control that and things outside that, are not in my hands,” he added.
During the 14th over of India’s innings, Suryakumar Yadav was sent back to the pavilion by Sam Curran. He attempted a ramp shot but Dawid Malan ended up taking the catch. Replays showed that the ball might have touched the ground, however, as the soft signal was out, the third umpire stayed with the on-field call citing "lack of conclusive evidence".
Suryakumar was quite frustrated after being overlooked for the white-ball series against Australia late last year.
Talking about how he prepared for the series against England, the 30-year-old said: “I have always said that the passion for this game has always kept me going. I kept working hard, I only knew that I have one option and I try to do things that are in my control. I kept on working on my skills and fitness and I knew that when the time is right, an opportunity will come and I will grab it with both hands.”
“There were some butterflies, I was happy when I got to know that I will be playing at three, I knew what I had done before, I just followed the same process which I do while playing for my franchise. I knew this situation really well, I wanted to do the same things. I did not do anything different, I just expressed myself,” he added.
Asked about his approach when skipper Virat Kohli got out, Suryakumar said: “When Virat Bhai got out, Rishabh Pant came in to bat and he told me one thing that if you are playing well then try to take the game as deep as possible. That’s the thing which was going on in my mind, try and bat as deep as possible because we decided in our team meetings that someone from the top four has to take responsibility as it would be easier for the team to get a defendable total, but unfortunately I could not do that, really learnt from it and will rectify it in the next game.”
(With ANI inputs)
