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India wrapped up their limited overs series against West Indies with a brilliantly played 88-run victory in the final T20I match between the two teams in Florida on Sunday, August 8. After a brilliant display by the batters who set a tough target of 188 runs for the win, the spinners continued their dominance with the ball from the previous games and created history by dismissing all 10 of the West Indies batter in a match.
In a surprising move, however, regular skipper Rohit Sharma was rested with the reins being handed back to Hardik Pandya for the final match. Speaking about the move after the win, Pandya said, "Very special to get a chance to lead your country. And getting that chance and getting that victory means a lot to me as a captain and an individual. I was just following our captain's roles."
He was also questioned about his decision to be India's permanent, to which he said, "Yeah, why not? If I get an opportunity, I'll be more than happy to do that. We have a World Cup and Asia Cup now though, so we need to focus on that and use our skillsets there."
Pandya was very proud of his team's performance and believes that these are the signs of a new Indian team, "The kind of talent the players have and the freedom we have. This is the new India how they are playing. They are expressing themselves well, and when you have the freedom you get more dangerous. Credit to management and the whole group to make that environment. They are not worried about whether they won't get picked or whether they will get dropped.
He was also in awe of the spinners after Axar Patel's match-winning performance of three wickets was backed by three for Kuldeep Yadav and four for Ravi Bishnoi. "I wanted to make sure I gave Axar the new ball and wanted him to get the confidence back and bowl dots. I knew the kind of bowler he is, when he bowls tight he creates chances. Then the wrist spinners have some weapons that can trouble batters. I just hand to hand over the ball and told them to enjoy," he said.
