Building a selfless team has been a key takeaway for India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav after his side swept Bangladesh 3-0 on a record-breaking day in Hyderabad. This was the second successive series sweep for Suryakumar and coach Gautam Gambhir since they took charge of the team in the shortest format.
On Saturday, it was Sanju Samson who best exemplified India's selfless and fearless approach with the bat. From 62 off 29 balls, he zoomed to 92 off 35 balls with a sensational sequence of 6,6,6,6,6 in the tenth over bowled by wristspinner Rishad Hossain. Then when he was on 96, he drilled offspinner Mahedi Hasan over his head for a 40-ball hundred - the second fastest by an Indian in T20Is. Samson's blitz set India up for 297 for 6 - the second-highest total in men's T20Is.
"I think we have achieved a lot as a team," Suryakumar told the host broadcaster during the post-series presentation. "Most importantly as I said at the start of the series, I want to have selfless cricketers in my team. We want to be a selfless team and as Hardik [Pandya] said, we want to just enjoy each others' performance on the field and off the field and spend as much time as possible and that camaraderie is carrying on the field and we're having some fun.
"The chat around the team has been like that. Gauti bhai said the same thing at the start of the series and when we went to Sri Lanka as well: 'no one is bigger than the team'. If you're at 99 or 49 or anything, if you feel you've to hit the ball out of the park for the team, you have to hit it and Sanju did the same thing. Really happy for him."
With some Test players getting a break ahead of the upcoming three-match Test series against New Zealand, India rejigged their combination, packing their side with allrounders. In the second and third T20Is, Suryakumar used as many as seven bowling options. India's team management has similarly asked their batters to be flexible. Nitish Kumar Reddy, one of the debutants in this series, was promoted to No.4 in the second game and he responded with 74 off 34 balls, in what was only his second international innings, after India had been reduced to 41 for 3 within the powerplay.
"We've to be very flexible when it comes to batting and bowling as well," Suryakumar said. "Everyone has to chip in with few overs who can and batters have to be very flexible. The way they showed it in the series was very commendable.
"Just [have to] maintain the good habits and continue that on the field and just be the same."
India's next T20I assignment is a four-match series in South Africa, which will run from November 8 to November 15, overlapping with the Test team's prep of the Australia tour, which kicks off with the first game in Perth from November 22.