Suryakumar Yadav-led India will lock horns with South Africa in the Super 8 clash on Sunday, 22nd February, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Both teams coming to this match remain unbeaten in their respective groups. The two nations have played an amazing brand of cricket in the shortest format and were the finalists in 2024, where India defeated South Africa to win their second T20 title.
Suryakumar Yadav’s side has been dealing with some concerns, as the first of them is Abhishek Sharma’s poor run of form, with three ducks in the last three innings, Tilak Varma’s poor strike rate, and pressure on playing on the home side. Ahead of the game, SKY has been addressing the press conference.
It’s very difficult to say there’s no pressure – Suryakumar Yadav
SKY, after being asked if there’s any pressure on India ahead of this match, the skipper stated, “It’s very difficult to say there’s no pressure. When you’re playing on homesoil there is definitely pressure. At the same time, every individual deals with it differently.”
“We’re trying out best to keep it simple.We try to be present and grounded. We got a good wake up call against USA which helped us stay in the moment and not think too much.”
Indian batters need to be flexible – Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav also discussed India’s batting flexibility, as it has been seen under Gautam Gambhir’s coaching tenure that there are no fixed batting positions for any batters except the openers. Every batter must adapt to the match situation and play accordingly.
SKY speaking on batting position said, “Except the openers, 3-8 have to be flexible. If there’s no wicket down till 8-9 overs you might see Dube or Pandya walking in. Even my position is flexible.”
Suryakumar Yadav, in the press conference, also dismissed rumours on Tilak Varma’s slow strike rate, as Surya said, the team management has asked him to play like that and, as per the situations as, if two wickets fall early, he needs to slow his batting and rotate strike rather than smashing and risking his wicket.
SKY was also asked whether Sanju Samson will get a nod against the Proteas. Despite the latter’s intense practice on Friday, it was believed that he might get a chance, but there has been no evidence provided from the side of the team’s captain.
Toss is overrated now – India captain
Suryakumar Yadav also talked about the toss factor at Ahmedabad. As there are chances of dew coming on later in the second innings. India also tested their bowlers against the Netherlands while bowling second. Here in recent times, teams batting first have won more games, but some of the games were in day time.
SKY said, “Toss is overrated now. If you bat well in the first innings, even if there’s dew you’ll be able to defend well with this bowling unit.” In the last game, the Proteas chased down a total of 176 runs against New Zealand easily by 7 wickets in hand. South Africa has played three matches on this ground and won batting twice and one chasing.
