IND vs AUS, 5th T20I: Suryakumar Yadav proud of ‘fearless’ young India after series win in Bengaluru

Suryakumar Yadav won his first ever T20I series as the India captain on Sunday, 3 December, defeating Australia 4-1. Yadav’s young Indian team clinched the thriller in Bengaluru by 6 runs to win the 5-match series. The captain credited his fearless Indian team who did not give up in the nervy moments of the match.

IND vs AUS 5th T20I: Scorecard | Highlights

“Yeah, I think, I mean, it was a good series in the end. To win it 4-1, I think, the boys have done well. Absolutely, we wanted to be fearless and I told them to play freely as they would normally. I told them to enjoy ourselves when we were in the middle. So, very happy with that,” Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation.

IND vs AUS, 5th T20I: Match Report

It was not a clean win for India as they struggled in the first innings of the game on a sticky wicket in Bengaluru. Shreyas Iyer’s half-century and contributions from Axar Patel and Jitesh Sharma helped India reach 160/8, which they later defended by 6 runs.

The Indian team had to weather an initial storm from Travis Head and then from Ben McDermott and Matthew Wade to clinch the game in the final over. Axar Patel was named the player of the match for his contributions with both bat and ball, while Ravi Bishnoi was named the player of the series.

“It was a tricky wicket to bat on. I have seen the games where the first innings score was 200-220 have been easy to chase down. The score of 160-170 was just about par. At the halfway through the second innings, I said to the boys, we have a game on,” Yadav concluded.

Yadav would be happy with the win before he captains the T20I side once again in South Africa. Yadav has been named the Indian captain for the T20I leg of the tour due to the unavailability of Hardik Pandya.