The young scorer from the Kerala Cricket Association spoke of the two boys who had moved to the city from New Delhi just a couple of days earlier.

“Could you take a look at them?” Sudhir Aly asked Biju George, the SAI coach who conducted training camps at the Govt. Medical College Ground in Thiruvananthapuram and had earned a reputation for nurturing young talent.

A Suryakumar Yadav press conference can feel a lot like watching him bat. Just when you think the line of questioning is predictable, he pulls out something unexpected. A quip here, a smirk there; it is 360-degree box office.

So, when asked for a reaction to New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner’s ‘the goal is to silence the crowd’ remark on the eve of the T20 World Cup final, Suryakumar said: “Why does everyone keep copy-pasting the same line? They need to come up with something new.”

Of course, he was referring to Pat Cummins, the charismatic Australian skipper, who had kept his word back in 2023, his side crushing Indian spirits in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Now a new-look squad has taken up the challenge to flip the script during Sunday’s showdown at the Narendra Modi Stadium here. Even as the battle lines are firmly drawn in a completely different format, Suryakumar plays it cool.

“The camp is very relaxed. It’s a special feeling to lead such a wonderful side at home, and that too at such a wonderful stadium,” he said. Somewhere deep inside, he knows there are concerns. Especially those surrounding the forms of his prized World No. 1s — Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy.

While Abhishek’s lean patch has wrecked India’s run-bank — the southpaw has managed to score only 89 in seven games at an average of 12.71 —Varun has been struggling since the start of the Super Eight. The spinner’s economy rate shot up to 11.62 in the last four games; it was a miserly 5.16 earlier.

However, if you were to take Suryakumar’s word for it, he isn’t worried. “We won the match (against England) eventually, and that happens when everyone is putting in a collective effort. If we are winning games, we don’t worry about such things. Everyone goes through ups and downs. It is not possible for all 11 players to have a good day at the office. Varun is well aware of how he can step up.”

A major talking point through India’s campaign has been the chatter surrounding its left-handed batters and their underwhelming stats against off-spin. The said match-up has seen 11 dismissals.

Suryakumar said: “We never discussed it. If we played at a strike rate of 120 (113.69, to be accurate) and are still in the final, I don’t mind. It is important to bat according to the situation and requirement”.

Gautam Gambhir does know a thing or two about chases. In the 2011 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, he top-scored with a 97 in a winning cause. Cut to the present, in his avatar as the coach, the former India opener was thrilled with another 97, this time scored by Sanju Samson.

“Sanju is a world-class player, he has the experience and he did very well. Even in that game against Zimbabwe he did his part. I didn’t think he accelerated, he just paced his innings well here, played smartly. I hope he builds on from here. In Sanju and Ishan Kishan, we have two very good players, who can both bat and keep wickets,” Gambhir said.

The coach was quick to stress that the victory against the West Indies in a vital ICC T20 World Cup game here at the Eden Gardens, had the hallmark of teamwork: “Sanju scored 97 but we also had Shivam Dube scoring those two fours in the penultimate over. Jasprit Bumrah is our banker, we keep going back to him. In the chase, we never felt we were out of the game.”

Asked how the team decides the batting combination and bowling changes, Gambhir said: “It is all about experience, I think data is over-rated, you just figure things, and yes the captain makes his decisions. And in big matches, it all boils down to mental strength.”

West Indies skipper Shai Hope also lauded Samson’s knock: “It was an A-plus innings. He is an experienced player and he handled the chase well.”

Having helmed a reasonably good campaign, Hope said: “Our bowlers did well and we batted deep. Shimron Hetmyer at three was good. Obviously we will analyse why we lost”.