Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India captain Suryakumar Yadav gave fans a funny moment before the fifth and final T20I against New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram, and the crowd enjoyed every bit of it. The match was special for local star Sanju Samson, and the stadium was filled with his supporters. Everyone waited to hear his name at the toss.
During the toss, Suryakumar Yadav tried to surprise the crowd as he pretended to forget Sanju Samson while talking about changes in the playing XI. Fans reacted quickly, and the atmosphere became lively as soon as the skipper revealed the news in a playful way. When asked about team changes, SKY said, “Axar comes back, Ishan comes back and one more. Oh my god… Don’t worry Thiruvananthapuram, Sanju Samson is playing tonight (laughs),” he added with a laugh. The crowd cheered loudly as soon as they heard Sanju’s name.Watch:India won the toss and decided to bat first. Suryakumar explained the reason and he spoke about the dew factor and the pitch conditions. He said, “We are going to bat first. We were here last night. There were a lot of dew. So we want to test our bowlers if we’re good defending the total. It’s a good wicket. We had a good session last night and the curator said it’s going to play true for the next 40 overs,” he added.He also spoke about Tilak Varma and his return to the team and SKY shared his confidence in the young player. He added, “He’s (Tilak) just taking his time to play a few practice games. He’s been a good player for us. When he comes back, it’s going to be a solid side. But yeah, we’re really waiting for him. We’ve almost covered all the departments, batting, bowling and fielding. But yeah, every time you do something, you try and learn something out of it and then take it to the next game.”India have already secured the five-match series with a 3-1 lead, and the final game served as preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.IND vs NZ playing XIsNew Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert(w), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Bevon Jacobs, Mitchell Santner(c), Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Jacob DuffyIndia (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
