India skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted that his team losing three wickets in one over of English pacer Saqib Mahmood was ‘too much’ during the fourth T20I in Pune on Friday (January 31). However, he also praised Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube for showing ‘positivity’ and using their experience to bail the team out of trouble.

Mahmood’s triple strike, resulting in dismissals of Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar in the second over of India’s innings, reduced the hosts to 12/3.

Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh failed to make a mark as well as the hosts slumped to 79/5 before the 11th over. But Pandya and Dube joined hands and stitched a partnership of 87 runs with twin 53-run knocks off 30 and 34 balls respectively to propel India to a good score of 181/9.

India eventually won the match by 15 runs, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match T20I series.

“Top effort from everyone, and the great crowd from start till the end. We didn’t want to go back, boys know what brand of cricket we want to play. Three wickets in one over was too much. But the positivity, and the way Dube and Pandya showed their experience in the middle was great. This is what we have been talking about – expressing yourself and batting the same way as in the nets. The way they practice is incredible and they do it in the game," Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation.

During the chase, the visitors were cruising as they reached 62/0 before the last ball of the powerplay and looked in a strong position to overhaul the target.

A wicket on the last ball of the sixth over, two more in the next two overs and then a spell of 3/33 from concussion substitute Harshit Rana helped India bounce back into the match.

“I’m happy, I think we’re moving in the right direction. I always knew post-powerplay, [overs] 7-10 there was a time we could control the game. We picked up a few wickets, and then Harshit Rana came in as a third seamer and delivered for us, that was incredible," Suryakumar added.

The fifth and final T20I of the series will be played in Mumbai on Sunday (February 2).