Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav revealed he left the luggage of captaincy in the dressing room when he walked out to bat against Australia in the first T20I at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
India was chasing a huge total of 209 runs and the home team also lost two early wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal to find themselves on the mat at 22-2. However, SKY was able to hit the ground running and delivered while leading the national team for the first time.
SKY scored a majestic knock of 80 runs off just 42 balls with the help of nine fours and four sixes and thus was awarded Player of the Match. The right-hander played at the top of his game and also added 112 runs with Ishan Kishan, who scored 58 runs.
SKY played with aplomb as he always does in T20Is and showed why he is the number one batter in the T20I rankings. The talisman showed there was no captaincy pressure on his shoulders when he walked out to bat.
SKY was delighted with the way his players performed against Australia despite chasing a big score. Yadav also gave credit to his bowlers for restricting Australia to 208 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “Very happy with the way the boys played. Was very happy with their energy, we were put under pressure but the way everyone showed up was amazing. It’s a proud moment, very proud moment, everytime you play, you think about representing India but coming out here and captaining India is a big moment. Thought there will be a little bit of dew but there wasn’t. It isn’t a big ground and I knew batting will get easy. Thought they might get 230-235 but the bowlers did really well. Just enjoy and express yourself.”
He added, “We’ve been in such situations many times in franchise cricket, just told Ishan to enjoy himself. We knew what was going to happen. I left the luggage of captaincy in the dressing room. I try to enjoy my batting. The atmosphere was amazing, thanks to the crowd. Was great to see how the boys kept their nerves. Was great to see Rinku, the situation was tailor-made for him. He was calm and collected, which calmed me down a little bit. Incredible achievement from the bowlers to restrict them to this total after the 16th over.”
The second T20I between India and Australia will be played at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
