India vs Sri Lanka 2nd T20I: Surykumar Yadav reacts after 43 run victory; ‘rain helped us’

Suryakumar Yadav’s India took an unassailable lead in the T20 series against Sri Lanka after defeating the hosts by 7 wickets at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Sunday. Notably, this is the first series that the Men in Blue have won under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav while also having Gautam Gambhir at the helm.

After winning the toss and electing to field first, India restricted their opponents to 161 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Indian opening pair of Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal came to the crease, but the match was called off due to rain after just 3 balls in the 2nd innings.

When play resumed, the equation changed and Team India were asked to chase down a total of 78 runs in 7.3 overs. While there were minor hiccups along the way, some aggressive knocks from Yashasvi Jaiswal, skipper Suryakuamar Yadav and Hardik Pandya ensured that the result eventually went in their favour.

After the match, captain Suryakumar Yadav stated that the rain caused halt and subsequent reduction in the total perhaps worked in his team’s favour.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Surya said, “We spoke about this before this tournament – what brand of cricket we want to play. Even if it’s a shorter target or whatever target we are chasing, this is the template which we would like to go ahead with. With the weather around, anything below 160 would have been nice. The games which we have seen here before have always been tricky. Rain helped us. The way the boys batted, it was wonderful.

On being asked if some new faces will be brought in during the 3rd T20I since the series is already in the bag, Surya said, “We’ll sit and decide what we want to do going forward. Very happy for the boys the way they showed their skill and talent and lot of character in tough situations,”