India’s thrashing 86-run victory saw many youngsters step up with all-round performances. Firstly, Nitish Kumar Reddy who won the Player of the Match award, played a brilliant knock of 74 off just 34 deliveries to lead India to a massive total of 221/9. He then also bowled a great spell of 2/23 to help the hosts in restricting the visitors to 135/9 in 20 overs.
Another youngster, Rinku Singh also scored a fantastic fifty before Hardik Pandya and Riyan Parag’s cameos added the finishing touches. Skipper Suryakumar Yadav was delighted after seeing these fabulous performances and showered praise on the Indian team’s young guns.
“I wanted my middle-order to bat under pressure and express themselves. I’m really happy with the way Rinku and Nitish played. They batted exactly as I wanted,” Suryakumar said.
India used a total of seven bowlers despite Hardik Pandya not bowling. Remarkably, all seven bowlers took at least one wicket, a first.
“I wanted to see what different bowlers could do in various situations. Sometimes Hardik won’t bowl, sometimes Washington Sundar won’t bowl. I’m very happy with the way the bowlers stepped up,” Suryakumar further said.
Despite the recent retirements of senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja from the format, the new and young Indian players have performed admirably so far, completing series triumphs over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
