‘More than my last over…’ - Suryakumar Yadav reveals India’s match-winning moment in 3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka

The partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav in the shorter format of the game got off to a flying start. India whitewashed the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka with a thrilling Super Over victory in the final match at Pallekele on Tuesday. It was Suryakumar’s first assignment as a full-time T20I captain and Gambhir as the head coach.  

Notably, Surya was adjudged Player of the Series for his two brilliant knocks in the first two matches. He slammed a match-winning fifty in the series opener and a quick-fire 26 in the second match. But it was his two-wicket haul in the last match, beyond his usual batting heroics, that grabbed the attention.

With the spinners performing well, India went with Rinku Singh in the 19th over and he took two wickets. When six runs were needed in the final, the captain himself took the responsibility instead of going with pacer Mohammed Siraj and pushed the game into the Super over.

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I have seen such kind of games: Surya after India's 3-0 win 

However, speaking after the match, Surya revealed that it was not his last over that changed the fortunes of the game. Instead, he pointed to the way the lower middle-order batters rescued the team after the top and middle-order collapse.

“More than the last over, I feel when we were around 30/4 and 48/5, how the boys showed character in the middle and took the game away from them ... I felt 140 was a par score on that track. When we were going in during fielding session I told them, 'I have seen such kind of games. If we put our heart in for one and a half hours, we can pull it off’,” the 33-year-old said.

Notably, India, who were invited to bat first, were in a huge trouble with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh and Surya failed to make an impact. Shubman Gill scored 39 runs but it came at a sluggish strike rate of 105.41. However, Riyan Parag’s 26 off 18 and Washington Sundar’s 25 off 18 helped India reach 137-9 in 20 overs.

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