Suryakumar Yadav snubs his batters' and bowlers' heroics, credits this thing for India's win vs Sri Lanka in 1st T20I

The Suryakumar Yadav-led India National Cricket Team went head-to-head with the Charith Asalanka-led Sri Lanka National Cricket Team in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, July 27.

This was the first match of the new era in the Indian Team with Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir at the helm as skipper and head coach. Notably, this was not the first T20I series of India after the T20 World Cup win and the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja as the Men In Blue had traveled to Zimbabwe earlier in the month.

But the point to be noted here is that the BCCI sent a completely young Indian side - full of youngsters - to Zimbabwe for the T20I matches, and it was VVS Laxman who served as the head coach on that tour. Also, Laxman had his support staff from NCA.

On the other hand, the Indian team on the Sri Lanka tour had all the first-choice players available for the T20I series, a new captain, which surprisingly enough was not Hardik Pandya, as well as a new head coach with some new faces in support staff. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate were the new coaches who joined the Indian team at the request of head coach Gambhir.

The way we played in the World Cup, that reminded us that the game was still too far - Suryakumar Yadav

Coming back to the on-field action from the first T20I, the India National Cricket Team were invited to bat first, and they posted 213/7 on the board, riding on Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant's good batting performances. Defending the total, Indian bowlers were put under pressure by Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis but they bounced back and bundled out the hosts for 170 to help India win by 43 runs.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Suryakumar Yadav, who also won the Player of the Match award, lauded the Lankan Lions for playing a good brand of cricket throughout their innings.

The Indian captain, meanwhile, didn't give credit to his batters or bowlers for the win and stated that dew not coming played a big role in the match, and they were fortunate in that aspect. Suryakumar Yadav asserted:

"They were playing a good brand of cricket from ball one. They were keeping the tempo, credit goes to them.

"We know how the wicket plays in the night. We were fortunate that there was no dew."

Suryakumar Yadav added that despite Sri Lanka flying high at 140/1, the Indian team weren't under pressure because they were confident, thanks to their recent T20 World Cup win. Suryakumar Yadav elaborated:

"The way we played in the World Cup, that reminded us that the game was still too far. (Left-right combination to be persisted?) Whatever works for the team, we'll take the call."

Meanwhile, the teams have very little turnaround time as the next match is scheduled to be played on Sunday, July 28, at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.