India captain Suryakumar Yadav rued the lack of partnerships and the early wickets that fell inside the powerplay during the run-chase as the hosts were thrashed by 76 runs in a Super 8s clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Chasing 188, India were never really in the contest in the second half after being reduced to 26/3 in the fifth over. Eventually, they were bowled out for a paltry 111 in the 19th over.
Assessing India’s poor batting performance, Suryakumar said: “Sometimes you have to think if you’re chasing 180-185, you can’t win the game in the powerplay, but you might lose the game in the powerplay. We lost too many wickets in that phase, and then we couldn’t have small, small partnerships, which we wanted to have. But then that’s part of the game. We’ll sit back and learn from it, and then come back stronger.”
Having been asked to field first, India were off to a great start themselves as Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh rattled the South Africans in the powerplay, reducing them to 20/3 by the end of the fourth over. But where David Miller and Dewald Brevis had a steadying, lengthy partnership, India never did. Suryakumar conceded that the Proteas took the game away in that middle phase.
“We were always in the game when we started. We bowled really well at the beginning to reduce them to 20/3. But then from Overs 7 to 15, I think they batted really well. We came back again in the game later on. Overall, if we see, we bowled really well. But we could have batted a little better,” Suryakumar said.
The defeat makes a serious dent on India’s chances of progressing to the semifinals with the Net Run Rate down to -3.800. They head to Chennai next to face Zimbabwe and then take on another unbeaten side so far in the West Indies at Eden Gardens, knowing another slip-up could end their campaign. “Hopefully bat well, bowl well, and field well,” Suryakumar quipped, when asked how his side would tackle the Zimbabwe challenge. “That’s it. We’ll try and keep it simple, play the same brand of cricket, which we want to play, and nothing changes.”
One of the positives for India was the bowling of Bumrah and Arshdeep. “I think everyone knows their combination has been very lethal. Both of them have played together. They bowled 8 overs and picked up 8 wickets for around 45 runs (43). They bowled really well in partnerships, and that’s what we want from them,” the captain added.
