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Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav praised Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube for their positive play after India lost three wickets in one over. India won the fourth T20I by 15 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav in Pune (Sportzpics photo)
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav admitted that his team losing three wickets in one over of English pacer Saqib Mahmood in the fourth 2025 T20I in Pune on Friday was ‘too much’. But he also lauded Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube for showing ‘positivity’ and using their experience to help the team out of the trough.
Mahmood’s triple blow consumed Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar in the second over of India’s innings, reducing the hosts to 12/3. Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh didn’t stick around too long and the score was 79/5 before the 11th over. But Pandya and Dube strung together a partnership of 87 runs with twin 53-run knocks off 30 and 34 balls respectively to help India to a good score of 181/9.
India won the match by 15 runs, sealing the five-match series 3-1.
“Top effort from everyone, and the great crowd from start till the end. 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,” Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation.
This was India’s 17th consecutive home T20I series win. It didn’t come easily as England were 62/0 before the last ball of the second innings powerplay and looked in a strong position to chase the total down.
A wicket on the last ball of the sixth over, two more in the next two overs and then a spell of 3/33 from concussion substitute Harshit Rana helped India roar back into the match.
“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 added.
The fifth and final T20I of the series will be played in Mumbai on February 2.
