India captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir started their tenure with a dominating performance as India defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series in Kandy. India won the third T20I in super over in an interesting encounter on a difficult pitch at Pallekele.

India made 137/9 in 20 overs with Shubman Gill top-scoring 39 runs. In response, Sri Lanka was poised to win the match at 110/1 in 15 overs, but Indian bowlers put pressure on Lankan batters and they collapsed. Sri Lanka only managed to tie the match despite needing 28 runs in 28 balls.

In the super over, Washington Sundar gave away 2 runs and picked up 2 wickets, and then Suryakumar Yadav hit a four first ball to win the match.

After the match, Suryakumar Yadav revealed that since the T20 World Cup tournament last month, players have been told to not sit together in small groups of two or three players but to sit as a team. He said that it tends to work as a team bonding exercise and subsequently reflects on the ground.

“We don't sit together as a team for fun only when we win a game or a series. This trend started during the World Cup, where no matter the result or performance in the game, we used to sit together. We decided that we wouldn't sit in groups of 2 or 3 people but always sit together as a team. The same thing happened during this series. This leads to better bonding between the players and reflects on the ground. It also builds that friendship and ability to stand in support of a fellow member of the team,” Surya told Sony Sports.

However, this revelation of Suryakumar Yadav has left former cricketers Ashish Nehra and Ajay Jadeja shocked.

Ajay Jadeja said that he was surprised by Suryakumar Yadav’s statement, as he felt that it should happen involuntarily in a team environment and not as a forced change.

“That is what you expect in a team sport. I'm just surprised that players are talking about this even today and it has been rather a change in the team that players won't sit in small groups. I don't know, did you not all sit together in previous teams? But again, the captain mentioned that he brought this change, although this is old,” he said on Sony Sports post-match show.

His fellow panelist Ashish Nehra was quick to point out that the off-field exercise only started in June.

“Didn't he say that this change happened during the World Cup? That happened only a month back,” he added.

Jadeja responded to the statement saying, “I'm not doubting him, but I'm rather surprised that this has only started now.”

The Indian team will be back in action on Friday with the first of the three ODIs scheduled in Colombo.