A lifetime opportunity, 1014 WhatsApp messages, and an extended evening. With a legendary catch by Suryakumar Yadav to remove David Miller in the final over, India ended their lengthy wait for an ICC championship. The day following the championship match, Devendra Pandey had a conversation with Suryakumar Yadav in which he discussed the significance of the historic events at Bridgetown for both him and the squad.
Yadav Suryakumar: We have a great fielding session the day before the game, where we play 10–12 minutes of direct hits, high catches, flat catches, and slide catching. It’s not a one-day workout; I practice these kinds of catches during bilateral series and the Indian Premier League. The prize for all the years of arduous labor was yesterday’s catch.
Everyone wants to do more on the field now that the fielding medal has been introduced, even if it’s just by preserving one or two crucial runs. It is a commendable endeavor. We are further motivated by the individuals who award the medals.
Suryakumar Yadav: I would have accepted this (the ICC gold) even if my World Cup hadn’t gone well. I recall Rohit bhai saying, “mein tujhe nahi bataoonga, is tournament mein tujhe kaise khelna hai (I will not tell you how to play in this tournament)” at the beginning of the World Cup. He was referring to the situations in which the team needed my kind of innings or the times when I was just needed to be present. He won’t give me any information. He remarked, “I just wanted you to be there at the crease,” following the USA game. If I continued to bat until the end, I knew I would win the game. For me, that was an uncommonly rare knock—a 49-ball 50. Occasionally, one must perform such knocks for the team.
