On the eve of India’s Super 8 opener against South Africa, skipper Suryakumar Yadav dismissed suggestions about replacing Tilak Varma with Sanju Samson in the team lineup.

Although the defending champions won all four of their Group A matches, Tilak’s struggle against spinners on slow wickets didn’t go unnoticed. As opposed to his career strike-rate of 141.80, the southpaw’s scoring rate dropped to 120.45 in the group stage of the tournament.

However, Surya defended Tilak by saying that the latter is performing the role of an anchor on directive of the team management.

"I mean I have told him, the team management has told him that he has to bat that way. If one wicket is down, then he is definitely, he can go and have his own game in the powerplay.

"But as soon as two wickets are down, then he has to take a little bit of backseat, get a partnership again, get to the 10th over and then we have enough firepower to continue and take on the bowling," Suryakumar told reports.

The captain went on to say that Tilak has set higher standards for himself. "Definitely I am sure he must not be happy with how he is batting right now, I am sure. He must be and he has practised a lot as well in the last 2-3 practice sessions. But I don't have any concern regarding him. He has been delivering for India at No. 3 really well and I am very confident that he will do it better," he added.

Suryakumar literally laughed off suggestions that Tilak should pave the way for Sanju in the playing XI.

"You mean, I should make him (Samson) play for Tilak?," he laughed. "It's going well in powerplay. We're making 40-50 runs. That's normal cricket. Now we've played so well in bilaterals. It happens. We also have expectations from ourself. Expectation to make 220, 240, 250," he said.

"But wickets are a little different here. The four wickets we have played on so far were a little different and challenging. Off-spinners were not bowling earlier but are bowling now. So we have started preparation for that and hopefully we will tackle it as we start our Super 8 journey."

On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav commended his bowling unit for keeping the game in the game even during par-scores like 175-180.

"I do take a lot of pride in my bowling unit. I know that on a given day, if we ever make 170, 175, or 180 because of the high risk, high reward game we are trying to play, then we have a good bowling attack which can save the match, it can win that game," he said.

"Look, I never thought that this team will make scores like 250, 270, 220, 230. But the way we're playing cricket now, you'll see in the future, if you see a start, then after that, everyone bats with the same template. But the day you don't get a start, that day you have to think about what the team needs."

Suryakumar feels toss is an over-rated concept right now, even though dew might impact the Super 8 clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

"I think, what I feel is toss is little bit overrated now. If you see this tournament also, lot of teams are winning the toss and also batting first in different venues. We got to bat first in all the four games. I lost, I think, three tosses out of four.

"So, if you bat well in the first innings, even if there is dew, you still have an opportunity to go out and defend if you have confidence in your bowling unit. I don't think toss will matter a lot, but still we will see tomorrow what we want to do," he remarked.