Team India’s skipper Suryakumar Yadav took responsibility for the loss and also spoke about the worries regarding Gill’s form in T20 cricket
Updated: December 12, 2025 8:55 AM IST
New Delhi: Team India captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted that the team’s heavy dependence on opener Abhishek Sharma proved costly as South Africa leveled the five-match T20I series in Mullanpur on Thursday. Quinton de Kock played an explosive 90 runs knock and Ottniel Baartman’s four-wicket haul helped the Proteas dominate, defeating India by 51 runs. In their chase of 214, India struggled after losing Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, and Yadav himself, eventually being bowled out for 162 in 19.1 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav took responsibility for the defeat
At the post-match press conference, Suryakumar Yadav took responsibility for the defeat and also reflected on Shubman Gill’s form in the T20 format. He urged his batters to raise their performance while acknowledging that Abhishek Sharma has recently been shouldering much of the team’s run-scoring responsibility.
“I think myself, Shubman, we could have given a good start because we can’t rely on Abhishek all the time. The way he’s been batting, he might have an off-day. Me, Shubman and few other batters should have taken it. I think it would have been a smart chase. But then it’s okay, Shubman got out on the first ball. But yeah, I should have taken that responsibility, batted a little deeper. But yeah, as I said, we learn, we try and do better in the next game to come. We just thought in the last game, we have seen Axar bat really well in the longer format. And we wanted him to bat back the same way today as well. But unfortunately, (it didn’t work) he did bat well. But we will see what’s up for us going on in the next game,” said Suryakumar.
Gill is yet to showcase his full potential in the shortest format
The home crowd had hoped for a strong performance from their stars, Gill and Abhishek, but they failed to deliver.
Gill is yet to showcase his full potential in the shortest format, as he edged a perfectly pitched delivery from Lungi Ngidi that seamed away from length, offering a thick outside edge off his very first ball.
Meanwhile, Abhishek was caught behind in the following over off Marco Jansen’s delivery. Suryakumar Yadav was the next to fall, edging a delivery from Jansen that was angled away from the India captain.
The five match series now stands at 1-1 with the third match set to be played in Dharamsala on December 14.
Also Read:
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: india.com
