Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard after the 1st ODI© BCCI
Suryakumar Yadav played a calm but assertive innings to see India at home in Sunday’s first ODI against the West Indies in Ahmedabad. Suryakumar went unbeaten on 34 from 36 balls as India chased the goal of 177 runs in 28 overs with six wickets in hand to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game streak. After the match, Suryakumar revealed that there was a bit of a chat between him and West Indian captain Kieron Pollard as the former struck in the middle. The right-handed batter said Pollard, who is also his Mumbai Indians teammate, asked him why he didn’t play the flick shot in the air like he does in the IPL.
“Pollard told me a few things. ‘Midwicket was open, why don’t you fag like you do in IPL’, but it was different here… I wanted to stay there until the end,” Suryakumar said in a chat with the official broadcaster . Interestingly, the righthander was fired for looking good in India’s pursuit in the third ODI against South Africa, which they lost by 4 runs. This time, however, Suryakumar made sure to stay there until the end.
India got off to a dream start courtesy of Captain Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, but when Alzarri got Joseph Rohit for 60 and then skipped Virat Kohli (8) in the same, there was a minor hiccup. The swift resignation of Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant soon afterwards meant that India needed a good partnership to ease its nerves and that came when debutant Deepak Hooda joined Suryakumar in the middle.
The right-handers put together an unbeaten 62-run tie for the fifth wicket to take India home. Hooda played his part with an impressive 26* on 32 balls.
“I think things were very clear. I didn’t tell him [Hooda] something. He has played domestic cricket for the past seven years. It was important to him to stay until the end, and his confidence was perfect. I really liked it. I feel like the track was almost the same as it was in the afternoon. But dew made the chase a little easier,” Suryakumar said of his collaboration with Hooda.
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India’s bowlers, especially the spinners – Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar – were on their way. Chahal took 4 for 49 while on his return to the side Sundar finished 3 for 30.
“We want to get better as a team and all in all it was a great effort from everyone. We talked about what we wanted to achieve and we ticked all the boxes,” said Rohit after the game, which also marked the start of his journey as a full-time Indian skipper with white balls.
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