Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav showered praise on Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya after the hosts registered a 15-run win in the fourth T20I against England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Friday.
The home team found themselves struggling at 79-5 after 10.4 overs when Pandya joined forces with Shivam Dube. The duo added 87 runs off just 44 balls as they counterpunched the visitors.
Pandya took the aggressive approach as he got the majority of his runs while playing in the V whereas Dube took the attack against England’s wily spinner Adil Rashid. Both the batters scored 53 runs each to help the hosts post 181 runs on the board after Buttler won the toss for the first time in the series.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “A top effort from everyone on the field. A great crowd from the start till the end, they were always behind us and there was support from everyone. We didn’t want to go back after 10/3 and boys know what brand of cricket we wanted to play. Three wickets in one over, it was too much for us. But the way they batted, the way they responded, the positive intent they showed in the middle and the way Hardik and Dube showed their experience, it was great. This is one thing we’ve been talking about – expressing yourself and you bat the same way as you bat in the nets. These guys, the way they practise during the net sessions, that’s incredible and they do the same in the game, so I am really happy.”
Yadav also hailed Harshit Rana, who returned with impressive figures of 3-33 on his debut after he replaced Shivam Dube as a concussion sub.
SKY concluded, “I think we are moving in the right direction. I knew post-powerplay, between 7-10, that was the time we could control the game and the same thing happened, we picked a few wickets and controlled the game. Post-drinks, when unfortunately Shivam Dube couldn’t come in, Harshit Rana came in as the third seamer and delivered it for us, that was incredible.”
The fifth and final T20I of the series will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
