Veteran New Zealand pace bowler Tim Southee praised the Team India batter Suryakumar Yadav, Who made headlines with his 51-ball 111 in the second T20I against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui. With this, India posted a massive total of 191/6 whereas New Zealand could only manage 126 in reply, and they got bundled out in the 19th over as well.
“Anytime a T20 player gets a hundred in a match, it’s quite often the difference. You look at the rest of the side and the way we sort of batted, his innings was miles apart from anything else we saw today. Probably made them get to a score that was probably a little bit more than what we were hoping for. It was an exceptional innings and it was the difference between restricting India to 175-180 and then getting above 190,” said Tim Southee at the post-match press conference on Sunday (November 20).
“That’s probably the way to sum it up – never really got going. Anytime it looked like it was about to get going, we lost a wicket. That’s credit to the way India bowled. They had a decent score on the board. If you’re able to take regular wickets and early wickets, then that makes that score even bigger. Just not able to get going and when you’re chasing a score like that, you need to blunt it with a decent partnership at some stage,” further added Southee about the New Zealand chase.
Meanwhile, at the halfway stage, after being put into bat, Team India managed only 75/2 with Suryakumar Yadav batting on 18 off 13. However, he reached the fifty mark in the 16th over, taking 32 deliveries before he changed gear. His next 61 runs came off only 19 deliveries whereas he did not get to play a single delivery in the final over, courtesy of Tim Southee’s hat-trick as well.
A well deserved Player of the Match award for @surya_14kumar as #TeamIndia win by 65 runs in the 2nd T20I 👏👏
Scorecard – https://t.co/OvmynDiyd8 #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/TuYSRsIIgQ
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 20, 2022
“He’s a player that can hit you and hurt you in a number of areas” – Tim Southee
“He’s a player that can hit you and hurt you in a number of areas. He’s had a great 12-18 months in IPL, international cricket. Came up against a pretty impressive knock today. The guys will reassess and come up with something for Napier,” again shared Tim Southee.
“There’s been a number of great T20 players from India. They produce so many good cricketers. Sky’s had a great 12 months. It’s there for him to continue to do so and continue to play the way he has. But you look at guys that have played for a long period of time and achieved so much over a long period of time … India have always produced amazing cricketers not only in T20 cricket but across all three formats,” he added.
When he was asked about his hat trick, Tim Southee said that it felt good. However, he finished with the spell of – 4-0-34-3. Apart from him, Lockie Ferguson also picked up 2 scalps but conceded 49 runs in his 4 overs as well.
“It’s nice…I got a bit lucky there in the last over and that can happen. Another day, they’d disappear over the fence and go for six. It’s nice when that happens but it all starts again in a day or two’s time. It’s part of cricket,” Tim Southee concluded.
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