New Delhi: India started their T20 World Cup campaign with a win over America, but captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted that the team had to work harder after a poor start. After a top and middle order collapse, India scored 161/9, largely thanks to SKY's unbeaten 84 off 49 balls. After this, America could only score 132/8 runs in reply, as India's bowlers kept things under control.
After the match, Suryakumar was honest about India's batting struggles. “All I can say is that we were 77/6, how much pressure we were under… we could have batted a little better,” he said. He also spoke about the conditions, saying that the pitch and the morning light were unusual, but stressed that the team should not make any excuses.“It was a slightly different wicket to what we always get at Wankhede. But at the same time, we knew that when we woke up in the morning we saw that there was not much sunlight outside.”Surya, who received the Man of the Match award for his exceptional innings, explained how he played his innings when India were in trouble, saying, “I always felt that a batsman needed to bat till the end. I never felt it was a 180-190 wicket. I felt it was a 140 wicket.” He revealed that coach Gautam Gambhir had also advised him to stay till the end and support himself. He further added, “Gauti Bhai said the same thing to me during the break after 14 overs. He told me, just try to bat till the end, you can cover it any time.”Taking advantage of his experience of playing on the Mumbai grounds, he focused on timing his shots and handling the innings under pressure.He also reflected on his personal journey, saying, “I knew that one day would definitely come… I was trying to bat like this, handle the innings for the team, but it wasn't happening.”After this the Indian bowlers moved forward. Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel shared crucial wickets to keep the United States in control. Although Milind Kumar, Shubham Ranjane and Suraj Krishnamurthy fought back by playing useful innings, they could not match India's experience in difficult moments.Earlier, Shadley van Schalkwyk destroyed the batting by taking four wickets in an over, including a triple strike, after which India was reduced to 77/6. But Suryakumar's calm and aggressive innings saved India and gave enough runs to the bowlers to defend.In the end, India won by 29 runs, an important but hard-earned victory that showed their resilience and the areas in which they still need to improve.
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