Suryakumar Yadav is the flavour of the cricketing season and inevitably a question about him was raised to Rohit Sharma. The Indian skipper was speaking to the media in Adelaide on Wednesday, a prelude to Thursday’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup semifinal against England.
Rohit had a fine input on Suryakumar’s approach: “He likes to bat in a similar fashion whether we are 10 for two or 100 for two. He hates playing on small grounds because he can’t see the gaps. I believe that he likes to see big gaps (in big grounds), and that’s where his strength is.”
While he refused to be drawn into selection debates around Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik and Axar Patel, the Indian captain reiterated the semifinal as another opportunity for India to push its trophy-pursuit in ICC events. “It’s been a long process and it’s important not to get ahead of ourselves, we have to play good cricket to win,” Rohit said while also terming England as a ‘dangerous’ team.
As for the Adelaide Oval, Rohit said: “It is one ground where you have to go back and understand what sort of tactics you want. The last game we played in Melbourne, but here it is completely different and the side boundaries are a little shorter.”
Earlier, Jos Buttler, while conceding that India is a strong outfit, also insisted on the confidence within his ranks. “Historically if you look at the stats, it shows about 165 being the par score here, but I am not interested in a par score, I am interested in a winning score,” the England skipper said.
When queried about his vulnerabilities against Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Buttler countered: “There are always certain bowlers that you potentially find harder than others. I certainly don’t fear anyone.” And as for Suryakumar, the skipper praised the batter and then added: “As with any batsman, it takes one chance to create a wicket.”
Comments
SHARE