Mumbai, February 7 After demonstrating how to bat on a slightly challenging surface, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav acknowledged that the batting unit could have been "smarter and better" during the defending champions' 29-run victory over USA in their opening match of the T20 World Cup on Saturday.
"We cannot simply dismiss everything. We need to bat much better. Even after winning, you learn a lot. We could have batted better and smarter," the captain said after winning the player of the match award.
While Suryakumar was outstanding with his 49-ball-84 not out, India were in a precarious position at 77/6 before the captain stemmed the rot and gave the total a semblance of respectability.
"I can only say how much pressure I was feeling, but I had the belief. I knew that if I could bat until the end, I could make a difference," Surya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Surya felt that the lack of sunlight during the day, combined with some moisture, made the conditions tricky.
"It was a slightly different wicket. But we knew that there wasn't a lot of sun outside when we woke up. The curator did his best. There wasn't enough sunlight to roll and water the pitch. It didn't feel like it would be a 180-190 wicket; it was more like a 140 wicket," he reasoned.
Asked about his own performance, Surya said he wanted to play the anchor role for as long as possible, but the execution wasn't always there.
"I knew that eventually, it was going to happen. I was trying to anchor the innings for the team (last year), but it wasn't working. I packed my bag (after my last innings last year), spent time with my family, and then went to Nagpur, and it felt different."
Having grown up playing at Wankhede, Surya had a good understanding of how to bat on this type of wicket.
"I have played a lot of my cricket here, so I know how to bat on similar wickets. At 77/6, we needed to understand that one batter had to bat until the end. I was just trying to play good shots," he said.
USA captain Monank Patel thought that 130 could have been a more achievable target on this wicket.
"The pitch wasn't easy to read. The variations they bowled in the powerplay...we kept them quiet for a while. We dropped catches, and that cost us. At one stage, we felt that we could restrict them to 130. I thought 160 was a good score to chase on this wicket. Our top three (including me) couldn't perform. The intent was missing because we lost wickets early on," Monank said.