A witty response came from the Indian cricketer Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the decider T-20I, the reporters. The men in Blue leveled the series by winning the second T20I by six wickets. The decider, that is the third T-20I against the blackcaps at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, on February 1, 2023.
Both the New Zealand and Indian skippers complained about the pitch at Lucknow. It resulted in the use of the pitch curator of Ekana Stadium. The pitch was an absolute “shocker” for the Indian stand-in captain Hardik Pandya. Many has even marked it as the “test pitch”.
Ahead of the third T-20I, one of the reporters asked Suryakumar Yadav about his calm and composed nature, even in critical situations. They even asked him about how he finished off the matches calmly. Surya, there, in the press conference, addressed the reporters and gave a cheeky reply. He replied:
“T20 Ranchi me chalu hua tha toh calm attitude udhar se hi aaya (T20 series started in Ranchi so the calm attitude originated from there).“
Suryakumar was quick enough to give credit to the former Indian captain MS Dhoni for his calmness. He drew references that the T20I series that had started at Ranchi, happens to be the home of Dhoni. Dhoni, famously called as ‘Captain Cool’ and ‘Finisher’ is widely loved by his fans around the World. It is mainly for his ability to stay cool and composed not only as the captain, and also for finishing matches for his team.
Suryakumar Yadav Got Help from Domestic Cricket
Suryakumar moreover, gave credit to the fact that he had played enough domestic cricket earlier prior to his international debut. It helped him to become well accustomed to the Indian pitch conditions. He, however, credited his teammates for helping him a lot to refine and improve his skills.
Suryakumar added,
“But I guess a lot of domestic cricket which I played before making my international debut, that has helped me a lot. Because the grind that we have there, we play on difficult conditions, challenging tracks and you have to apply yourselves, so whatever I have learned there I have carried it here. Rest whatever I have learned is by watching the senior players and talking to them about how they tackle various difficult situations.”
Suryakumar was the main batter in the Indian camp targeting a 100-run chase against the New Zealand team. Even if the target doesn’t look huge enough, the pitch however came out of the syllabus for a duel for teams. Suryakumar yet was the one with the highest score. He finished off with 26* from 31 balls. He managed to hit some boundaries too.
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