IND vs AUS: Put Axar Patel under pressure, he will bowl well, jokes Suryakumar Yadav after clinching series

India won their first T20I series under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav. India defeated Australia by 20 runs in Raipur on Friday, 1 December to clinch the 5-match series. Axar Patel played a crucial part in India’s win, picking up 3 wickets for just 16 runs while defending 174 runs.

IND vs AUS, 4th T20I: Highlights | Scorecard

India captain Suryakumar Yadav lauded the spinner and joked that he knowingly puts in Axar in tough situations, to bring the best out of him. Speaking after the series, Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation that apart from the toss, things were mostly in India’s control. Yadav lauded the character shown by the India players, especially Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who played two aggressive innings to take India to a safe score.

“Apart from the toss, I think the rest of the things have gone our way tonight. But yeah, the toss didn’t go our way. The boys have shown characters and still fight to the end of the game, and winning was brilliant. It was most important for us,” Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match press conference.

IND vs AUS, 4th T20I: Match Report

“We spoke in the meeting before the game to go out, and I said to them to express themselves and be fearless,” he further added.

India lost three quick wickets in the first innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav going back in the hut in a space of 14 balls between the 6th and the 9th over.

“After losing a few quick wickets, the wickets of the senior batters, credit goes to those youngsters (Rinku and Jitesh) for the way they batted and got us to a competitive score,” Suryakumar said.

India spinners starred on the day, with Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel putting up a mid-block against the Australian team. Axar was impressive in particular, bowling in the powerplay and removing Travis Head in his very first over.

“I always love to put Axar Patel under pressure. He bowls very well when put under pressure. The way he bowled tonight was unbelievable. The plan was very clear, to bowl yorkers on the stumps, and we’ll take it from there. If that doesn’t work, we’ll see what happens,” Yadav said.

The captain signed off by saying that there will be changes in the playing XI for the final T20I match in Bengaluru, which is now a dead rubber.

“There will be changes in Bengaluru, but not sure what’s it,” signed off the winning captain.