We wanted that relentless intent – Suryakumar Yadav on India’s T20I series triumph against South Africa

India managed to pull off an extraordinary turnaround of affairs as they drubbed South Africa emphatically in the T20I series. After being clean swept in the Test series, they fought their way back, winning the ODI series first, and then eventually dominating their way through the shortest format of the game, to pocket the T20I series 3-1.

India captain, Suryakumar Yadav, opened up on the overall mindset of the Indian cricket team, going into the T20I series. He also heaped praise on individuals, highlighting their role in shaping up the fate of the game.

SKY said, “From the start of the series, we wanted to stick to a particular brand of cricket and we did exactly that. We didn’t try to do anything different. We wanted to express ourselves in all departments and the results were right there in front of everyone. Yeah, this is something we felt was missing in our last few series.”

Pointing out the strategy and how Washington Sundar and Jasprit Bumrah came up clutch, SKY said, “This is exactly how we wanted to bat, once someone gets going, they don’t stop. We wanted that relentless intent, and today it worked beautifully. Yes, we wanted to try something different. The plan was to use Bumrah in one over in the powerplay, control the middle phase after drinks and then have him ready for the death overs. Washi stepped up brilliantly today and took responsibility. We were under pressure at times, we were challenged, but this game is about how you respond and the boys did really well. It’s been challenging but a very good series.”

He concluded by stating, “We did almost everything we wanted to. Maybe the only thing we couldn’t quite manage was finding “Surya the batter” . I think he went missing somewhere!(smiles) But he’ll be back stronger. As a team, I’m really happy. Whenever we were in trouble, someone always put their hand up and pulled us through. As captain, that’s very satisfying.”