'I also wanted to hit some big shots on seeing Suryakumar's batting'

GEORGETOWN: After Suryakumar Yadav smashed a 44-ball 83 with shots all over the park to hand India a seven-wicket victory over West Indies in the third T20I, young left-handed batter Tilak Varma revealed that he had the urge to go for big shots on seeing the right-hander produce some scintillating strokeplay going for boundaries.

Suryakumar, the top-ranked T20I batter, hit ten fours and four sixes in his whirlwind knock, while stitching an 87-run match-winning partnership with Varma, who remained not out on 49, as India kept the five-game series alive.

"I was enjoying my batting and also enjoyed watching him (Suryakumar) batting from the other end. The ball was too slow and was getting stuck. I talked to Gill (Shubman Gill) after the game ended and asked what was so different in Surya's batting. I just could not fathom the shots he played and on seeing that, I wanted to hit some big shots too.

I had good starts in the previous two matches and could have carried for longer. So I told Surya that we will go deep and finish the match. The wicket was slow, I took calculated risks and played long. At that time, I also got loose balls and waited for it to come, which is what I did," said Varma in a video posted on bcci.tv.

On the other hand, Suryakumar, who started his knock with a four and a six off the first two balls he faced, also praised Varma for his mature batting coming in an Indian victory for the first time.

"Your knock was mature. I got a free hand to express myself because you were standing at the other end with the bat. It was a perfect game and it was really good to see the way he batted," he said.

The 20-year old Varma revealed that Suryakumar had a wristband on his right hand, on which it was written, "Give yourself time in the powerplay. But he was right on the accelerator from the word go."

To this, Suryakumar replied, "Sometimes, you have to play bluff with yourself. Aaj maine khud ko ullu bana diya (I tricked myself in the match)! I thought I would take time and peak slowly. But after hitting the first two balls, I then thought I would play to the team’s requirement, and didn’t do anything different. I enjoyed myself, expressed myself to the core and loved batting with the star (Varma)."

Suryakumar signed off by saying he will explain to Varma later how he generates power to hit sixes over square leg on slow pitches.

India are still 2-1 behind in the T20I series against West Indies, with the fourth and fifth matches set to be played in Lauderhill, Florida, USA over the weekend.