Team India completed a 3-0 series whitewash against Bangladesh and Suryakumar Yadav stood firm to endorse the point which opined that nobody is bigger than the team and one should be selfless. This was the case particularly in the final T20 match, where India met the visitors for a 133 run win, which was rather history making, given the circumstances. It’s an approach that has been there since the Gautam Gambhir days of coaching. And Sanju Samson was the one who lived the approach and went all out with the bat.
Samson scored from 62 off 29 deliveries to 92 off 35 with five towering shots over the ropes in the tenth over bowled by wrist spinner Rishad Hossain.
He drilled that over Mahedi Hasan Miraz with just four runs needed to bring up his 40-ball century. I n perhaps what was, to put it lightly, ideal conditions for batting, his heroics allowed India to score 297/6, the second highest total in the history of T20I.
“We have done a lot as a team, I think. Most important, and as I mentioned at the start of the series, selfless cricketers is what I want in my team. And as Hardik (Pandya) said, we want to have a joyous coexistence without concern for performance on the field or off, and that sense of togetherness is there on the field too, which is why we are enjoying this,” Kokil Suryakumar discussed in a presentation after the series.
There’s been that kind of talk in the dressing room too. And Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) has said the same when the series started and even on our tour to Sri Lanka – ‘There is nothing bigger than the team’. If you are out on the crease for 99 or 49 or whatever, and if you think the situation calls for shattering the ball over the boundary for the team, that call must be taken-Sanju’s call. And I am happy for him,” he further expressed.
Since a few key players from India such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant etc are gearing up for the T20I series owing to the three Tests against New Zealand, the Indian team had to reshuffle its squad.
There were many all-rounders in the team given the fact that Suryakumar used seven bowlers in the second and third T20Is. A few adjustments in the batting order were also seen as young all-rounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy was elevated to number four position during the second T20I of New Delhi.
Suryakumar maintained that its paramount and added, “We’ve to be very flexible when it comes to batting and bowling as well.” a sense of flexibility had to be injected in both batters and bowlers.
“There are certain limitations and conditions in which you can play, and if those apply, everyone has to chip in with few overs who can, and batters have to be very flexible. The way they showed it in the series was very commendable. Just [have to] maintain the good habits and continue that on the field and just be the same,” he said
India’s next in the calendar is the T20I, which will begin on November 8, as they will be heading to South Africa for a four-match series.