T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav reveals his leadership mantra ahead of final

Here is the full transcript of the pre-match press conference of India captain Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

[Reporter:]

It doesn't get bigger than this. One step away from lifting the trophy. We have seen you have conversations with Rohit Sharma as well in the semifinal. I just want to ask you, the captain, the leader of the team, what are you feeling right now? Are there any nerves? And Mitchell Santner was obviously here earlier, and he said that the goal is to silence the crowd. So how do you respond to that?

[Surya Kumar Yadav:]

Everyone is coming and saying the same line – tell them to say something new now. But yeah, the mood in the camp is very relaxed, very happy obviously. It's a special feeling leading such a wonderful side at home soil, that too at such a wonderful stadium. It's a special feeling and everyone is very excited for it.

[Reporter:]

I wanted to ask you about Varun Chakravarthy’s form before going into the final - What is worrying you? Can we see any change in the 11th?

[Surya Kumar Yadav:]

There is nothing to worry about. We have won the match. It's a team sport. Everyone gives their best. It’s a collective effort, only then you win. Once we win the match, we don't think much about anyone. But the team keeps moving up and down. There are 11 players. Everyone's day won't be good. Everyone can go up and down. The rest are there to cover. I am not worried about that. He is the world's number one bowler. He is a world-class bowler and knows how to win matches. He will definitely do that.

You can see the changes tomorrow. You want to know everything today only.

[Reporter:]

If we look at it from the batting point of view, we have had good games since the Chennai game. Coming into this final, if you see, we have lost 15 wickets against off-spin in this tournament and the strike rate is hovering around 120 odd. So New Zealand has potentially 4 off-spin options, 2 right-armor and 2 left-armor. So how much does this factor in your conversation when you are planning for the game? How much does this factor get discussed?

[Surya Kumar Yadav:]

We haven't discussed it at all. If we are playing the finals with a strike rate of 120, then I will prefer to play with a strike rate of 120. There is no problem to the team. We do have conversations sometimes, but we don't pay attention to it. On a given day, if a batter does well against a bowler, at that time it is important to go into the field and bat and meet the team's requirements. We are doing that. In the last game, you saw that two lefties went in. An off-spinner was playing, but Ishan batted well against him, even Dube also and also Tilak Verma. So, there are not that many conversations. That too at this stage, I don't think we should think so much. Now, if two spinners come in the final tomorrow - we will have to play them - we can't leave it and come back. So, we will handle it tomorrow.

[Reporter:]

The captain of New Zealand was saying that he will try to restrict you to 250 runs less because the team is capable of making 250.

[Surya Kumar Yadav:]

He is lying.

[Reporter:]

So what do you think, youll made 250 runs in the last match, What is the kind of score you are looking forward to on this deck?

[Surya Kumar Yadav:]

See, we will try to bat well. If we can score 200, 225, 250 runs, that's good. That's good for our team.