Mumbai: India captain Suryakumar Yadav was elated by the sensational batting by opener Abhishek Sharma in the fifth T20I and brilliant bowling by Varun Chakravarthy in the series and termed it a byproduct of his team’s high-risk, high-reward style of play that resulted in a 4-1 victory against England in the five-match series.
With Abhishek Sharma hammering a 54-ball 135 to help the hosts post a massive 247/9 and Mohammed Shami claiming 3-25 to help bundle out England for 87, India handed the visitors a 150-run thrashing, securing their second-highest victory by a run margin.
While England at no time looked capable of chasing the massive target, Surya threw the ball to part-timers Shivam Dube and Abhishek Sharma, both of who claimed a couple of wickets to hasten England’s demise.
Suryakumar said one has to be a bit instinctive on the ground as a T20 captain and the success of Abhishek, Shivam, and Varun Chakravarthy sit well with India’s no-holds-barred style of play.
“It’s always about being a little instinctive on the ground, whoever you feel might do something, throw them the ball. This is what we’ve sat down and spoken about, what brand of cricket we want to play, and we want to keep sticking to it. It’s a high-risk, high-reward game, but at the end of the day, we’re getting the results,” said SKY in the post-match presentation ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
As Punjab left-hander Abhishek Sharma hammered a scintillating century, the second fasted by an Indian in T20Is, with his family watching from the stands, Surya said he was happy that the batter did well in front of his family.
“I’m very happy for his family as well, they must have enjoyed his innings. It was great,” said SKY.
The India captain also praised mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy who emerged as the most successful bowler in this series with 14 wickets in 14 wickets in five innings. Surya said the spinner from Tamil Nadu has been working hard on his fielding and the results are evident.
“He’s been relentlessly working hard with our fielding coach Dilip sir, whenever he gets time in our practice sessions. Today he put his hand up and said he wants to field in the outfield, and you saw the results. He’s a process-oriented man [with the ball], always wants to work on something new,” said the India captain as India, the reigning World Champions, maintained their dominance in T20I cricket.
