IND vs WI: Suryakumar Yadav’s response to Kieron Pollard’s sledge shows he’s a superstar
Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav (Image source: Twitter)
India batter Suryakumar Yadav has opened up about the sledging from West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard. India beat West Indies by six wickets in the first game of the three-match series on February 6. Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Kieron Pollard-led side has a poor start as they lost an all-important wicket of Shai Hope to pacer Mohammed Siraj.
At one stage, they were tottering at 79/7. Former skipper Jason Holder (57) and Fabian Allen (29) stitched a partnership of 78 runs for the eighth wicket. This partnership made sure the team got a total of 178. For India, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took four wickets, and come back man Washington Sundar took three. Pacer Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj took two and one respectively.
In reply, Rohit Sharma (60) and Ishan Kishan (28) added 84 runs for the first wicket. Kishan got to play as an opening batter as Shikhar Dhawan is isolated due to COVID19 and Mayank Agarwal was unavailable.
Meanwhile, India lost a few quick wickets and slipped to 116-4 at one point. Sensing an opportunity, Pollard tried to sledge Suryakumar Yadav and hoping that he make a mistake and West Indies can sneak in another wicket. However, Surya didn’t get intimidated and kept on playing normal cricket. Yadav reflected on Pollard’s sledge and said he wanted to stay at the wicket thus paid no heed to the sledge.
“Pollard told me a few things. ‘Midwicket was open, why are you not flicking like you do in IPL’ but it was different here… I wanted to stay there till the end,” Suryakumar said in a chat with the official broadcasters.
Yadav added that when debutant Deepak Hooda came into bat, it was important for them to bat till the end. Yadav and Hooda stitched an unbeaten partnership of run-a-ball 62 runs.
“I think things were really clear. I didn’t tell him [Hooda] anything. He has played domestic cricket for last seven years. It was important for him to stay till the end, and his confidence was spot on. I really liked it. I feel the track was almost the same as it was in the afternoon. But due to dew, it became slightly easier in the chase,” Suryakumar said about his partnership with Hooda.
