India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav emphasised that selflessness is an important attribute for the players in his team. This was after India completed a 3-0 whitewash over Bangladesh, winning the third and final T20I in Hyderabad on Saturday, October 12.
On the back of a belligerent century from Sanju Samson, India amassed the highest total by a Test-playing nation in T20Is - 297/6, after winning the toss and opting to bat first at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Samson exhibited the selfless approach Suryakumar acknowledged the same as he went from 62 off 30 balls to 92 off 35 balls, hitting five consecutive sixes off Rishad Hossain in the 10th over. The Kerala cricketer also got to his maiden T20I century by hitting Mahedi Hasan for a boundary off the 40th ball he faced.
Also Read:"I think we have achieved a lot as a team. Most importantly as I said at the start of the series, I want to have selfless cricketers in my team. We want to be a selfless team and as Hardik [Pandya] said, we want to just enjoy each others' performance on the field and off the field and spend as much time as possible and that camaraderie is carrying on the field and we're having some fun," Suryakumar told the host broadcaster during the post-series presentation.
Really happy for Sanju Samson: Suryakumar YadavSuryakumar revealed that head coach Gautam Gambhir told the team ahead of the T20I series against Sri Lanka in July that no player is more important than the team. The Mumbai batter said that personal milestones don't matter too much for this team as they are not afraid to get out in pursuit of quick runs.
"The chat around the team has been like that. Gauti bhai said the same thing at the start of the series and when we went to Sri Lanka as well: 'no one is bigger than the team'. If you're at 99 or 49 or anything, if you feel you've to hit the ball out of the park for the team, you have to hit it and Sanju did the same thing. Really happy for him."
Also Read:Apart from Samson's ton, Suryakumar also played a blinder as he smashed 75 off 35 balls. His 172-run partnership off just 70 balls with Samson left Bangladesh clueless. Later, Riyan Parag (34 off 13 balls) and Hardik Pandya (47 off 18 balls) also showcased their big-hitting prowess.
In reply, Bangladesh huffed and puffed their way to 164/7 as Towhid Hridoy remained unbeatem on 63 off 42 balls. Ravi Bishnoi starred with the ball as he finished with figures of 3/30 in four overs. Mayank Yadav took the new ball for the first time in the series and scalped two wickets. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy also chipped in with a wicket apiece as India won by 133 runs.
