India’s T20I vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav not for 'wicket' games

PTI

Ahmedabad, January 31

India’s T20I team vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav today played down the Ekana Stadium pitch controversy, saying the home players “fine” with all types of surfaces.

India skipper Hardik Pandya had termed the Ekana pitch in Lucknow a “shocker” after a tense 100-run chase, which was achieved off the penultimate delivery of the match. The curator was blamed for the fiasco and had been sacked.

“We (Hardik and I) had a chat later on, and it was like, whatever we got in future we will go with it. It’s completely fine,” Yadav said on the eve of the series-decider at Motera.

“It doesn’t matter what soil you play on. These are the things which aren’t in your control. We did what we had in our control, we had to adapt, apply that on ground and move on with the situation. But it was an exciting game. Any game, ODI or T20I, low or high-scoring, if there’s competition in the game, wickets, I don’t think, matter a lot. You go out there, have a challenge, accept it and move on,” he added.

In tricky conditions, New Zealand had reduced India to 83/7 and the hosts needed 17 runs from the last two overs, with Yadav and Pandya in the middle. The duo brought down the equation to six runs from the last over. “Actually, we have been batting together for a very long time now. We had some good partnerships in the past,” Yadav said. “At that time, it was very important for us to have good communication and have a nice atmosphere as we knew that it was a little tense in the last over. We were just having a laugh and telling each other whoever got an opportunity let’s try and finish it.”

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