India captain Suryakumar Yadav credited his bowlers for adapting quickly to the conditions in the visitor’s 48-run victory over Australia in the fourth T20I at the Carrara Oval in Gold Coast on Thursday.
India bowled Australia out for 118, the host team’s second lowest T20I total at home. Axar Patel and Shivam Dube struck twice each to jolt the top order while Washington Sundar picked up three wickets for three runs to clean up the tail.
‘Fantastic bowling’
The Indian skipper called the bowling fantastic and also stressed that the conditions were tricky as dew was starting to set in.
“The bowlers adapted quickly, especially with a bit of dew coming in. The way they bowled was fantastic,” Suryakumar said.
With all-rounders Axar, Dube and Sundar picking up the majority of wickets, the Indian T20I captain said that the availability of such players suits the team.
“It’s great to have bowlers who can give you two or three overs, and on some days even four. It depends on the situation, some days Washington bowls four, some days Shivam or Arshdeep might bowl less. This flexibility suits us. Everyone’s ready to step up and do what the team needs,” he said.
Abhishek, Gill get praise
The Indian captain also praised the Indian opening duo of Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma who put up 56 runs for the first wicket. The pair took 6.4 overs for their stand and Suryakumar said this was because they judged that this was not a high-scoring pitch.
“Credit to all the batters, especially Abhishek and Shubman. The way they started in the powerplay was smart, they realised early it wasn’t a typical wicket for 200+,” the Indian captain said.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Everyone chipped in, and it was a complete team effort with the bat. The messages were clear from outside as well, me and Gauti bhai were on the same page,” he added.
Axar Patel’s reaction
Player of the Match Axar said that him batting in the lower order helped in gauging the pitch better.
“After I spoke with the batters, they were saying that the wicket is not coming on… There was unexpected bounce and the wicket was a little bit slower, so I just held my position and hit,” Axar said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Talking about his bowling performance he said: “If the batters are going to hit me down the line, then I can bowl in the middle-stump. Good length, 5-6m length and then if things are slipping from me, then I’ll just bowl an odd full one. So that’s my plan in these conditions, I think wicket-to-wicket is the most important thing.”
Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh rued the unavailability of his full-strength side but gave credit to India for being a world-class side.
“Fair play to India, they’re a world-class team, especially in these conditions, said Marsh after the loss. “In an ideal world, you’d have your full-strength side every game, but some of the boys have a big series coming up.”


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