Suryakumar Yadav put up a 360-degree batting show to help India reach an intimidating total of 184/5. The right-handed batter came to the crease when India found itself in dire straits, having lost three wickets for 66 at the halfway mark.
Suryakumar Yadav went on to score his fourth T20I fifty in 27 balls and finished with seven sixes including three in the final over that cost West Indies 21 runs. Venkatesh Iyer played the perfect second fiddle to Suryakumar Yadav, scoring an unbeaten 35 and stitching a 91-run fifth-wicket partnership.
Suryakumar Yadav Isn’t Using Power But Using Skills To Understand Game Situation: Ajay Jadeja
West Indies will head back home without a single win in the limited-overs assignment against India. The Rohit Sharma-led camp beat the touring side by 17 runs on Sunday to win the T20I series 3-0, which was preceded by a comprehensive series whitewash in the ODIs.
A rejigged Indian team without Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant was put in to bat but it stuttered at the start. Rohit Sharma sent Ruturaj Gaikwad in to open in his place. However, he fell cheaply in the third over before Ishan Kishan (34) and Shreyas Iyer (25) shared a 53-run partnership. Rohit Sharma came in at number four but failed to get going, perishing for just seven after being castled by Dominic Drakes. But it was Suryakumar Yadav who excelled.
Despite being a late bloomer, Suryakumar Yadav seems to have added another dimension to the Indian middle-order and former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja believes the 31-year-old batter’s innings showed why one doesn’t need to rely only on power in the shortest format. Heaping praise on the versatile cricketer’s strokeplay, Ajay Jadeja underlined how Suryakumar Yadav reads the game and anticipates where the delivery is about to pitch.
“How often can you pick an innings, even in the T20 format, when one has hit more sixes than fours in his innings. I don’t know how to explain that… when he hits that, it’s not power.
“He’s not using power but finding other ways. With Suryakumar, the myth that one should be powerful or very strong to play this format goes away. He is showing that even if you don’t have power, you have different kinds of skills to understand the situation of the game… I think he maximized all those today,” Ajay Jadeja said.
“From all those sixes that he hit, I can only think of one against Walsh when he used his power. The rest was all about timing. He did a fabulous job to keep up the pace as well,” he further added.
Suryakumar Yadav’s batting prowess and ability to shift gears makes him fit in the current team’s scheme of things, especially when India is preparing for the 2022 T20I World Cup.
With 107 runs to his credit, Suryakumar Yadav ended up as the 2nd highest run-getter of the 3-match series and bagged the Player of the Series award. While speaking at the post-match presentation, he said it was important to stay in the middle after the fall of Rohit Sharma in the 14th over.
Venkatesh Iyer Also Left His ark During The T20I Series
Venkatesh Iyer also left his mark during the series. He notched up two brisk 30-plus scores in three T20Is and picked up a couple of wickets as well. India’s next assignment will be against Sri Lanka. The three-match T20I contest begins Thursday, which will be followed by a two-match Test series.
Apart from impressing with the bat, Venkatesh Iyer dismissed Kieron Pollard and Jason Holder to finish with figures of 2 for 23 in the third T20I on Sunday. Although he lost his spot in the ODI squad after just two opportunities, Venkatesh Iyer bounced back strongly in the T20I series against West Indies both with the bat and with the ball.
Venkatesh Iyer scored 92 runs at a strike rate of 184 with a boundary every 3.6 balls. He was the second-highest run-getter for India in the contest, after Suryakumar Yadav, and was involved in crucial match-winning partnerships in all three games. He also picked two wickets in two innings at 13.50, bowling 3.1 overs in the series.