Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav announced his arrival with a six off England's quality fast bowler Jofra Archer in the fourth T20I. He hit a six on his first delivery in international cricket on Thursday (March 18).
Yadav made his India debut earlier in the ongoing T20I series, but he was pushed lower in the batting order and couldn't get a chance to bat. He got dropped in the next match before being included in the fourth T20I and finally getting an opportunity to bat.
India captain Virat Kohli pushed himself to number four and Yadav got to bat at number three which worked well for him. He scored 57 runs in 31 deliveries as India looked to set a more than a decent total to defend. The hosts had already lost two matches in the series after failing to defend a modest total.
After India's 8-run victory, Yadav spoke to Shardul Thakur in a video for bcci.tv. The 30-year-old talked about his innings and how he was looking to keep things simple which paid off for him.
"First of all, I am feeling very good that we won the match. It was my dream to play for India and make the team win matches. I did not complicate things much and just tried to express myself. I knew if I managed to play the first two-three bowls as I do, then things will get easy," he said.
Yadav, who plays for Mumbai Indians in IPL, said he had anticipated the short ball from Archer before facing the first delivery. "I have seen him (Archer) in IPL and international cricket that when a new batsman comes in, he tries to keep the batsman on the backfoot. I have now played against him in the IPL so, now I have an idea how he might bowl in the powerplay or at death.
"So, I was prepared beforehand and I have been playing this shot in local cricket, domestic cricket, and even when I started playing cricket with rubber or tennis ball. So, this shot developed from there and now came to international cricket," he added.
India set a competitive total of 185/8 after put in to bat first. But when Ben Stokes, who scored 46 runs off 23 balls, was playing a handy knock it felt like the game was drifting away from Virat Kohli-led side.
It was Thakur's consecutive wickets in the 17th over which brought them back in the match. He dismissed Stokes and England captain Eoin Morgan on the first two deliveries of his over.
Talking about the game-changing over, Thakur said, "When Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow were building a partnership, there was confusion as to who should bowl and there were a lot of discussions. When the spinners' spell came to an end, pacers came in and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled an over which was very good, and then I got a chance. When we got those two wickets, we felt that we can seal the game and we did. Two wickets from two balls was very good for the team."
The speedster was under pressure in the final over after conceding two sixes. He revealed the stand-in captain Rohit Sharma wanted him to back his plans.
"The captain said that the leg-side is bigger and if we are bowling from the pavilion side then try to make them play shots on the bigger side (of the ground). Rohit Sharma was the stand-in captain and whenever he came to me, he only said one thing 'Shardul, back your plans and if you do quality bowling it will be difficult for them.
"They may play two big shots but they will miss one or two balls and will panic.' So, my plan was to bowl two to three dot balls. So, he was saying, whatever you have planned, try to execute that and do not judge yourself by the shots played by the batsman," he said.
(With ANI Inputs)
