Suryakumar's Trophy Relief: Why India's T20I Captain Finally Feels Victorious

“It feels great to finally get to touch the trophy. Felt it in my hands when I was handed over the trophy for the series victory. A few days back, another trophy arrived in India. Our women's team has won the World Cup. That trophy has also arrived back home. It feels great, and getting to touch this trophy as well feels good,” said Suryakumar in the post-match press conference.

India extended their dominant run in T20Is with a seventh consecutive series win since lifting the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup. With bilateral series against South Africa and New Zealand scheduled at home before they defend their crown at home in three months, Suryakumar remains grounded about the road ahead, noting that ‘you can never say all the bases are covered’ in T20 cricket.

"I'm very lucky to have all these boys with different skills. They bring very different things to the table. When we chat around - about the bowling, batting, and fielding - you must have seen a lot of energy on the ground. People enjoy when they go together on the ground.”

"But from a batting point of view, definitely what we've been doing in the last six to eight months, I think we're sticking to that, not changing anything. These guys are doing it really well. The way they bat at the top of the order it puts a smile on everyone's face when they're batting together.”

"Also, from a bowling point of view as well, people are taking responsibility. Having an experienced bowler like Bumrah around in the team and everyone chatting with him, learning a lot of skills, tricks, and trade of the game, that's a good thing. So there's good friendship building up in that as well.”

"So we are trying to get there. There's never anything like all bases covered. We always learn from this game, every game we play. Yeah, till now things look good, touch wood, let's continue that," he elaborated.

Another thing that would please India was left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma picking the Player of the Series award after amassing 163 runs in three innings at an average of 40.75. Suryakumar couldn’t stop praising the various tempos Abhishek and Shubman Gill showed – racing off the blocks quickly and taking their time to get going on a tough pitch.

"If the wicket is difficult, the quicker you adapt, the better it is. The wicket was good today, so they went back to normal, scoring 50-plus in four-and-a-half overs. But it was important in the last game to read the wicket well. These two did that well.”

“At this level, you only learn from experience. The way he adapted so quickly, if in the future also if we get such a wicket in the subcontinent, it won't be something new for him. They communicate well. They run well. They are learning quickly. Yes, there are just 120 balls, but often you have more time than you think.”

“Sometimes if they take four-five balls extra to figure out the conditions, they are so skilled they can cover up easily." This has been a good learning experience. Kabhi, kabhi agar sher ghaas bhi kh le toh chalega (Sometimes, even if a lion has to eat grass, it’s okay),” he concluded.

- IANS