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Similar to the T20 World Cup final a month ago, India managed to defend thirty runs off thirty balls once more, and Suryakumar Yadav was one of their heroes. This time, however, he did it as the 20th over’s bowler, defending five runs by taking two wickets.
This T20I series has seen Sri Lanka’s batting be frail. In three games, they crumbled three times: nine for thirty, seven for thirty, and seven for twenty-two. The fact that they lost two wickets to Rinku Singh in the 19th over of Tuesday’s disaster would sting even more. Throughout his T20 career, which dated back to 2014, he had only ever bowled 60 deliveries. And when the skipper took the ball, two more wickets fell.
By putting his faith in two rookie bowlers to bowl the final two overs, Suryakumar’s cunning as captain forced the match into a Super Over, where he scored the game’s deciding runs. Despite India having just 137 players on the board, he stated at the presentation that he was confident they could win.
“More than the last over, I feel when we were around 30 for 4 and 48 for 5, how the boys showed character in the middle and took the game away from them, I felt 140 was par score on that track and the way they batted. When we were going in during our fielding sessions, I told them I had seen such kinds of games. I think if we put our heart in for one, one-and-a-half hours we can pull it off.”
Suryakumar may have taken into account the spin-friendly conditions in all three games, given that his 20th over bowling was not in line with his original strategy.
“It was fun,” Riyan Parag said, “And that’s why actually we didn’t feel the nerves. We planned it in such a fun way, it was very spontaneous, Rinku bhai bowling the 19th over. I was pretty sure Siraj bhai was going to bowl the last over but then Surya bhai just came on to bowl and got it to a Super Over. So I think everyone was pretty chill. We were having fun. That’s one of our motto as well. We are being ruthless but we have fun and enjoy the game and that’s why we were able to pull this off today.”
Expert bowlers performed their duties as well. In the 17th over, Washington Sundar got two wickets in two balls, removing both the leading all-rounder for Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, and captain Charith Asalanke, causing havoc in the chase. He then took two wickets in two balls when he came out for the Super Over.
“I guess all work I’ve done, and a lot of blessings from God definitely helped me,” Washington said. “I just wanted to try and stay calm and just focus on what I’m supposed to do and very grateful to Surya especially to throw the ball to me in that [Super Over] situation.
“We did a bit of homework against their batsmen. Obviously, there was a little bit of purchase in the wicket as well, so I didn’t really have to do too much. I just had to hit the right lengths often. The rest was there.”