New Delhi: India wanted to test how they play when they a batter short in the team, claimed skipper Suryakumar Yadav after they lost the fourth T20I against
New Zealand by 50 runs.
India had won the opening three mactehs to picket the five-match series before arriving in Visakhapatnam and fielded six batters including all-rounder Hardik Pandya, with seamer Harshit Rana deployed in the number seven batting spot.
But the move didn’t yield results as the hosts were bowled out for 165 in 18.4 overs in chase of 216 runs.
“We purposely played six batters today. We wanted to have five perfect bowlers and wanted to challenge ourselves. Like for example, if we’re chasing 200 or 180, and we wanted to see if we were two down or three down, how does it look? But then it’s fine at the end of the day,” Yadav said after the match.
“And we wanted to play all the players who are part of the World Cup squad. Otherwise, we would have played other ones.”
‘Good learning’
India opted to field after winning the toss and conceded 215 runs, with Yadav later pointed out they wanted to see how they bat in a different situation, keeping in mind the T20 World Cup.
“We’ve been batting really well when we’ve batted first. So I wanted the guys to take that responsibility if we’re chasing 180 or 200, and two wickets or three wickets are down and see how we bat,” he said.
“So it’s a good challenge. Hopefully, if we get an opportunity again, we might chase again. But at the end of the day, good learning.”
New Zealand seamer Matt Henry opined that their performance despite a series defeat spoke voumes about their collective character.
“It’s easy after a couple of losses like that to go searching, but I think that shows a lot about the character of this group, to keep competing. That’s what we kind of hang our hat on. I think the key is assessing conditions. Obviously, we’ve played on three really good surfaces lately, small grounds and here was no different,” Henry said.
“Very, very wet conditions as well. So I think for us, it’s actually just about keeping fighting. You’re going to have overs where you can get taken for runs, but as long as you keep believing that you can change it by taking wickets, that’s what stems the flow of runs.”
