Ind vs Aus, 1st T20I: ‘He helped me’ – Suryakumar credits Kishan for his ‘fearless’ 80 on captaincy debut

India edged past Australia by two wickets in the five-match T20I series opener, in Visakhapatnam, on Thursday (Nov 23). Opting to bowl first, Indian bowlers were taken to the cleaners courtesy of Josh Inglis’ 50-ball 110 as the Aussies posted 208 for 3. However, at one point even a total in excess of 220 looked possible. In reply, India were tottering at 22 for 2 before Suryakumar Yadav (42-ball 80) and Ishan Kishan (39-ball 58) stitched a memorable 112-run third-wicket stand whereas Rinku Singh played a crucial hand (14-ball 22*) to take the hosts home in a last-over thriller.

After the game, Suryakumar opened up on a memorable win as India go 1-0 up in the five T20Is. This was SKY’s first-ever game as India captain and the veteran right-hander ended with an impressive knock, also winning the Player-of-the-Match. Post India’s win, SKY credited wicketkeeper-batter Kishan for his whirlwind knock.

“I think he helped me really well. For me to be fearless, him staying there, and his knock was very important,” Surya said in the BCCI video. The duo took on the Aussie bowlers strategically and targetted the shorter boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking. 

Also read: India attain SPECIAL feat after chasing 209 vs Australia in 1st T20I in Visakhapatnam

SKY also heaped praise on Rinku, who is slowly but steadily gaining a name for himself as India’s T20I finisher. “I think it was very calm, though, but it was a very it was a pressure situation. Uh, when he came into bat, he was very calm and composed, which he showed. Uh, I think that was great to see,” Yadav said about the youngster.

After the match, Kishan told the broadcasters, “I think bowlers did a great job, we were put under pressure, but credit to Mukesh for the way he bowled, the wicket wasn’t easy to bowl on, but to go at less then 9 rpo was outstanding, Rinku as well, playing at the early stage of his career and playing that kind of innings, it was special. We didn’t want to put too much pressure on the later batters, credit to Surya bhai, he planned his innings superbly, he can always play the big shots whenever needed. The plan was to get quick runs (on the partnership), so even if I got out, we needed the runs on the board. The ball I got out, he wanted me to look for a single, but the gap between runs required and balls left was big and I had to go for my shots. It’s a young side, most of them have not played against big teams like this, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll talk about it during the team meetings and come back better with the ball in the next match.”

The second T20I will be held on Sunday (Nov 26) at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram.