Pune (Maharashtra) [India], January 31 : Skipper Suryakumar Yadav on Friday lauded his team's performance against England in the fourth T20I match of the series and said that it was the top effort from everyone in the Men in Blue squad.
Harshit Rana and Ravi Bishnoi's three-wicket hauls helped India clinch a thrilling 15-run win over England in the fourth T20I match at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday, handing the Men in Blue an unassailable lead in the five-match series.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Suryakumar praised Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube's "positivity" with the bat in the middle order in the first inning. He added that the Men in Blue are moving in the right direction.
"Top effort from everyone, and the great crowd from start till the end. [12 for 3] We didn't want to go back, boys know what brand of cricket we want to play. Three wickets in one over was too much. But the positivity, and the way Dube and Pandya showed their experience in the middle was great. This is what we have been talking about - expressing yourself and batting the same way as in the nets. The way they practice is incredible and they do it in the game. I'm happy, I think we're moving in the right direction. I always knew post-powerplay, [overs] 7-10 there was a time we could control the game. We picked up a few wickets, and then Harshit Rana came in as a third seamer and delivered for us, that was incredible," Suryakumar was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
Recapping the match, England put India to bat after winning the toss.
The Three Lions had a great start to the match with three quick dismissals at the score of 12. However, the Men in Blue turned around the match on a great note and gave a whopping target.
The opening partnership of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma had a disappointing start to the game as they could only cement a partnership of 12 runs.
Following the early wickets, Abhishek and Rinku Singh made a 45-run partnership to give India a kickstart in the match.
Hardik Pandya displayed a stupendous performance and slammed his half-century in the 18th over. Along with Hardik, Shivam Dube also put up a show and smashed his fifty in the 19th over. The duo of Hardik and Shivam took India to 181/9 in the first inning.
During the run chase, the hosts got an advantage after Harshit Rana replaced concussed Shivam Dube in the second inning. Rana's presence in the playing eleven gave a huge boost to the Men in Blue bowling attack as he turned out to be the hero for the team in a crunch situation.
Harry Brook was the only England player to put up a show in the second inning. His fiery knock gave hope to the visitors to clinch the game. However, the English youngster was removed from the crease in the 15th over by Varun Chakravarthy.
In the latter part of the game, Jamie Overton and Adil Rashid tried to pose a scare by adding some crucial runs on the board but fell short against the Indian bowling attack.
Harshit Rana and Ravi Bishnoi led the Indian bowling attack as they bundled out England at 166.