India skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted his team failed to mop up the England tail after having the visitors on the mat and credited “world-class” spinner Adil Rashid for making life difficult for his batters during their 26-run loss in the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday. India had reduced England to 127/8 in 16 overs but allowed the visitors to post 171/9 in 20 overs. In their chase of 172, the hosts managed just 145/9, falling short by 26 runs.
“I felt there would be a little dew later in the day. I feel we had the game in our hands when Hardik and Axar were batting. Credit goes to Adil Rashid, he bowled really well. That’s why he is a world-class bowler. He didn’t allow us to rotate the strike,” Suryakumar said during the post-match presentation.
“I feel you always learn something from a T20 game. I felt when we were bowling around 127/8 to 170, I think that was too much at the end. We’ve got to learn from the batting point of view. Got to go back to the drawing board and learn from our mistakes.”
England made a promising start with Duckett being the aggressor in his 76-run stand with skipper Jos Buttler (24 off 22). But from 83/2, the visitors slipped to 127/8 before Rashid and Mark Wood managed to prop up the innings to 171/9.
England captain Jos Buttler also addressed the issue of losing wickets in clusters but credited his tail-enders for pushing the total in the end and the bowlers for delivering when it mattered the most.
“The guys bowled really well, it was nice to show off their skills. Not about how fast they can bowl, but how well they can adapt to the wicket,” Buttler said.
“(Adil Rashid) He’s the most important player in our team, we are fortunate to have Rashid in the team. He has all variations. Jofra is consistent, he won’t go for sixes often, but he will come back for sure if he does.” Talking about his team’s batting show, Buttler said, “I think the wicket looked different, Duckett played well. We lost wickets in clumps, we were disappointed. It was crucial to pick up wickets in the powerplay.
loved the way we kept pushing and kept taking the game on. Credit to Rashid and Wood, they had a crucial partnership in the end. That was the difference in the end.”
Chakravarthy working on flipper
Adjudged the Man of the Match for his figures of 5/24, Varun Chakravarthy said he has been working on a flipper and is happy with the way he is bowling currently.
“Sad that we didn’t make it in this match but that’s the nature of the game, got to move on. Of course, when you’re playing for the country, got to take up some accountability, able to do it to a certain extent. Hope to do it well,” Chakravarthy said.
“I’ve been working on a flipper, coming out well. Maybe on this stage, the best I’ve bowled, but I can definitely get better.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article