"We had the opportunity but we didn't finish it" - Dinesh Karthik on Suryakumar Yadav's untimely dismissal

Dinesh Karthik hailed Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel for their incredible 91-run partnership off just 42 balls that kept India alive against Sri Lanka on Thursday, January 5.

Chasing 207, the Men in Blue were in a spot of bother at 57/5 in the 10th over when the duo joined hands. They went on to take India to 148 in the 16th over when Yadav was dismissed, with the team still needing 59 runs from 25 balls.

Karthik was disappointed with the timing of "SKY's" dismissal as it came when the momentum was almost completely in favor of the hosts. Had he not gotten out, the result could have been different as Sri Lanka eventually went on to win the match by 16 runs.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, here's what Dinesh Karthik had to say about the partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel:

"I completely agree that Surya was right to take some time at the start, but disappointed with the place and time that he got out.

"Those are the moments when you want to take your team across the line. Every T20 game nowadays is on the line and the team that plays smarter ends up winning it.

"We had the opportunity but we didn't finish it."

.@surya_14kumar departs but not before he scored a cracking half-century! 🙌 🙌

#TeamIndia 149/6 after 16 overs.

Follow the match ▶️ bit.ly/INDvSL-2023-2N…

#INDvSL https://t.co/D2Ap7upAoT

Suryakumar Yadav didn't do anything wrong: Ajay Jadeja

Former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja, who was also present in the discussion, felt that Suryakumar Yadav was absolutely right to take his time to settle.

Yadav made an uncharacteristic start to his innings as he took his time to settle in with wickets falling at the other end. Once he got Axar Patel's support, he began firing on all cylinders before getting out for 51 off 36 balls.

Here's what Jadeja said about SKY's knock:

"First you moved him (Surya) down the order, so when he comes to bat it is already two down and then by the time he got past two [runs], the team was already five down.

"So he had to take some time and stay at the other end. Axar had no pressure on him at that stage, while Surya was the responsible man who had to take the team through, so you will see that from him. So, I don't think he did anything wrong."

Great fight tonight 🇮🇳
We’ll bounce back in Rajkot 💪 https://t.co/vuWnjYnMlO

India will now hope to win the series when they meet Sri Lanka at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium for the third and final T20I on Saturday, January 7.

India's squad vs Sri Lanka: Hardik Pandya (captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar.