India captain Suryakumar Yadav said the side deliberately fielded six batters and five specialist bowlers in the fourth T20I against New Zealand, describing the 50-run defeat as a useful learning experience ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup.
After posting 215-7, New Zealand left India, reduced to a batter short due to Ishan Kishan’s niggle-enforced absence, struggling at 82-5. India were bowled out for 165 in 18.4 overs, making the series scoreline 3-1.
“We purposely played six batters today. We wanted to have five perfect bowlers and wanted to challenge ourselves. But it’s fine at the end of the day. We wanted to play all the players who are part of the World Cup squad. Otherwise, we would have played other ones,” said Suryakumar.
Asked about opting to bowl first, he said, “We’ve been batting really well when we bat first. So I wanted the guys to take responsibility if we’re chasing 180 or 200 and are two or three wickets down, and see how we bat. It’s a good challenge. Hopefully, if we get an opportunity again, we might chase again. But at the end of the day, it’s a good learning.”
Suryakumar acknowledged the impact of dew and praised Dube’s innings of 65, but rued the lack of support at the other end. “With the heavy dew, I think one or two partnerships here and there, like the way Dube batted, one batter with him would have made a lot of difference at the end of the game. I think we lost by 50 runs, but it’s okay. As I said, one or two partnerships like this in a run-chase like this might make a difference.”
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For the first time in this series, none of India’s top 3 batters scored a half-century
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