Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav showered praise on Abhishek Sharma after the hosts registered a comprehensive 150-run win against England at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. With it, the home team won the series convincingly by 4-1.
Indian opener Abhishek Sharma scored a magnificent knock of 135 runs off just 54 balls with the help of seven fours and 13 sixes as he took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners.
Sharma once again backed the strategy of ‘see the ball and hit the ball’ and it worked wonders as he brought his second T20I century. The left-hander scored his runs at a strike rate of 250 and also aggregated more than half of India’s runs as the hosts posted 247 runs on the board after Jos Buttler won the toss and decided to field first.
On the other hand, England were skittled out for only 97 runs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Phil Salt scored 55 runs for the visitors but none of the other batters could even go past the 10-run mark.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “It’s always about being a little instinctive on the ground. Whoever you feel can make a difference, just throw the ball to them. These guys work really hard in the nets – keep practicing what they want to deliver in the game. And whenever I need them, they’re always there on the ground.”
He added, “This is what we sat down and spoke about – what brand of cricket we want to play, and we’re sticking to it. It’s a high risk, high reward game, but at the end of the day what’s working for us, we’re doing that. It’s good to see someone at the top batting like that. I’m very happy for his family as well. Must’ve enjoyed his innings. It was great.”
SKY also hailed Varun Chakravarthy, who bagged 14 wickets in five matches of the series at an average of 9.86.
SKY added, “Varun’s bowling – I’ve always said that he’s a process-oriented man. Works really hard in the nets. Always up for learning something new, and you can see the results.”
The first ODI between India and England will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday.
