Any doubts surrounding Suryakumar Yadav's captaincy skills were emphatically exploded with the Mumbaikar showing a welcome propensity to think out of the box.
Credit: PTI Photo
Pallekele: The 3-0 scoreline didn’t flatter Suryakumar Yadav and his troops. Short on international experience and missing a host of big-ticket names, India were by far the more superior Twenty20 side, calling on their familiarity with the format and Sri Lanka’s ungainly propensity to buckle at the first hint of pressure to stamp their authority at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium over the last four nights.
The clean sweep will help tide over some of the cracks, though it must not be forgotten that this is a team in transition. Question marks will abound over Sanju Samson’s utility after successive blobs and a below-par performance with the gloves in Tuesday’s final game, as well as over India’s inability to pick up wickets with the new ball. But those are, at best, minor irritants currently for the new T20 leadership group of Suryakumar and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Any doubts surrounding Suryakumar’s captaincy skills were emphatically exploded, the Mumbaikar showing a welcome propensity to think out of the box. His utilisation of Riyan Parag’s part-time off-spin was matched for impact only by the faith he showed in the even more part-time off-spin of Rinku Singh and himself, neither of whom had bowled in T20Is previously, in the last two overs of Sri Lanka’s chase on Tuesday.
While Suryakumar has spoken at length on the leadership influence Rohit Sharma has had on him, he is clearly his own man who will set his own agenda. That the cares of captaincy haven’t impacted his batting was evidenced by two chunky knocks which, coupled with his left-field captaincy calls, earned him the Player of the Series award.
India have unearthed a crack opening pair in Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill to carry forward the legacy of Rohit and Virat Kohli, while Ravi Bishnoi reiterated the value of his leg-spin and googlies and Washington Sundar stepped up to the plate spectacularly after having sat out the first two matches.
Hardik Pandya set aside the disappointment of not succeeding Rohit as skipper with useful displays in both departments and, in the rested Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, Arshdeep Singh slotted into the lead pacer’s role with aplomb, out-bowling the more experienced Mohammed Siraj.
Gambhir’s hand in India’s success was obvious, but this was more a victory for the players’ belief and their abilities. The strong bond of camaraderie that ties the unit together was clear; one couldn’t help but spot the sense of enjoyment and joie de vivre within the ranks though it is always open to debate if a winning team is a happy one or whether a happy team ends up on the winning side more often than not.
Sri Lanka did themselves no favours, driving interim coach Sanath Jayasuriya to distraction with their inexplicable serial collapses. So incensed was the former captain that he left Pallekele in the wee hours of Wednesday and, after a brief rest, was hard at work with the ODI reinforcements at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo by mid-morning. If only his charges would showcase the same commitment.