Media365
NEW DELHI: After a terrible start, India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav praised his team’s tenacity, giving Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube credit for leading the innings to a respectable total as they defeated England by 15 runs in the fourth Twenty20 International on Friday in Pune.
In the second over, India were at 12/3, but Pandya and Dube kept the innings together and led the home team to 181/9.
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“We didn’t want to go back after 12/3. Three wickets in one over was too much. The way Hardik and Dube showed their experience was great,” Suryakumar said after India’s 15-run win.
Highlighting India’s intent, the India skipper said: “This is one thing we’ve been talking about — expressing yourself and batting the same way as in the nets. I think we are moving in the right direction.”
But in the last over, Dube was hit on the helmet and removed, making space for Harshit Rana’s surprising but ideal T20I debut.
“I knew we could control the game after the powerplay. We picked a few wickets. Post drinks, Harshit Rana came in as the third seamer and delivered,” Suryakumar said.
With an incredible three-wicket haul, Rana took advantage of the situation.
“It is still a dream debut for me. When Dube came back, after two overs I was informed I will be the concussion substitute,” Rana said.
The young pacer disclosed that he had been training for this chance for a long time prior to the series.
“I have been preparing for a while, not just for this series. I have been waiting for this moment [his debut] to prove myself. When I got the chance, I did not think of the circumstances and just thought about delivering. I have experience of bowling at the death [for KKR in the IPL] and relied on that,” Rana said.
England captain Jos Buttler acknowledged that his team squandered the opportunity after a solid start and said they were unable to build on the early breakthroughs.
“We started brilliantly, taking wickets in the powerplay and we were in a great position at the end of the batting powerplay. We should have gone onto win the game.
He pointed out England’s major mistakes, such as a costly missed catch.
“…We dropped Dube first ball and he went to play a really good innings. With the bat, we were in a fantastic position and lost a couple of key wickets.”
