Suryakumar Yadav played an extraordinary knock of an unbeaten 112 off 51 balls and helped India beat Sri Lanka by 91 runs in the third and final T20I on Saturday. Post his innings, India skipper Hardik Pandya lauded Suryakumar.


"I think he has been surprising everyone every innings that he is batting. He is just telling us that batting is so easy. If I were bowling to him, I'd be disheartened on seeing his batting, with the shot he plays. He has played blinders after blinders," Pandya said at the presentation ceremony.


Surya continued after Rahul Tripathi got out scoring a brilliant 16-ball 35. "Special mention to Rahul Tripathi -- the ball was doing something but he showed great intent. Then SKY did his thing."


"You don't need to tell him anything, he knows what to do. If there is any situation where he is unsure, we have our chats but more often than not, he knows what to do."


Hardik also backed Axar and stated,  "I'm really proud of him (Axar), the way he is batting down the order and hitting. This will give a lot of confidence to him and the team as well”.


"My motto in life as captain has been that I'll back my players. These are the best T20 cricketers in India and that's why they are here. There is no space for doubting in this format and we're backing the players properly. The way we played in the series is pleasing, we didn't even play 50 percent of our game in the second game but we still fought well”, Pandya added.


Squads:


India: Hardik Pandya (c), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Yuzvendra Chahal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Axar Patel, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma.


Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Dilshan Madushanka, Lahiru Kumara, Avishka Fernando, Ashen Bandara, Pramod Madushan, Dunith Wellalage, Nuwan Thushara, Kasun Rajitha, Sadeera Samarawickrama.