In the fourth T20I match against New Zealand, Team India suffered a defeat by 50 runs at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
After the match, the hosts` skipper Suryakumar Yadav said that the management purposely played with six batsmen, as they wanted to see how things would go if we lose early wickets while chasing a target of 180 or 200 runs.
“I feel we purposely played six batters today. We wanted to have five perfect bowlers and wanted to challenge ourselves. Like for example, if we are chasing 200 or 180, and we wanted to see if we were two down or three down, how does it look? But then it is fine at the end of the day. And we wanted to play all the players who are part of the World Cup squad. Otherwise, we would have played other ones,” said the skipper.
The skipper also said that he wanted the player to take responsibility while chasing. He is also hopeful of getting an opportunity to chase again.
“We have been batting really well when we have batted first. So I wanted the guys to take that responsibility if we are chasing 180 or 200, and two wickets or three wickets are down and see how we bat. So it`s a good challenge. Hopefully, if we get an opportunity again, we might chase again,” added Suryakumar.
Despite the loss in Visakhapatnam, the “Men in Blue” have already sealed the series as they have a lead of 3-1.
The fifth and final T20I match between Team India and New Zealand is scheduled to be played on January 31 at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.
After the conclusion of the five-match T20I series, both teams will engage in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026. The marquee event is scheduled to begin from February 7, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
India`s squad for the T20I series against New Zealand
Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh.
(With ANI Inputs)
