India opener KL Rahul heaped praises for his teammate Suryakumar Yadav for his approach against South Africa. Both, Rahul and Yadav touched the fifty mark to take India to a comfortable 8-wicket win in Thiruvananthapuram. Rahul, who remained unbeaten on 51 off 56 lauded Yadav’s phenomenal aggressive approach. In the post-match presentation, the Indian opener said, “This was hard work. Was unbelievable for Surya to come out and play the shots. We saw how the ball was flying and for Surya to come out with that approach was phenomenal.

After the first ball, he wanted to be aggressive and take on the bowler. He said he wanted to play his shots and gets some runs. That helped me to take my time and play one end.” He further said that the team had come prepared for the pitch as they had experienced it during the practice sessions. “We did practice here yesterday, and there was a humbling experience as well. So we came in prepared for a scrap. It was not an easy wicket. I wanted to be challenged and wanted to do the job for the team,” added Rahul.

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Surya couldn’t control his aggression after he saw the pace of it

Rahul also hailed Arshdeep Singh’s bowling performance as he mentioned that that the young bowler is not afraid of big stage and big batters. “When the bowlers do such a phenomenal job, it becomes easy for the batters. [Arshdeep] He is growing with each game, and with each outing, he gets better. I have seen him at close quarters in the IPL. He is not afraid of the big stage, bowling to big batters. He keeps growing.

This season what he did for his franchise was phenomenal, He is carrying the confidence and doing the job for the team. You always want a left-arm seamer in your line-up,” said Rahul. Both Yadav and Rahul scored impressive half-centuries that helped India to chased down 107-run target in 16.4 overs. Before that, Indian bowlers also displayed powerful performances as  Singh and Deepak Chahar destroyed South Africa’s batting line-up, leaving them at 9 for 5 at one stage. India will now face South Africa in the second match of the three-game T20I series in Guwahati on October 2.