The Rohit Sharma-led India piled misery on West Indies as they clinched back-to-back series sweep with a 17-run victory over Caribbeans in the third and final T20I at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on Sunday (February 20). A superb 65 off 31 from Suryakumar Yadav made sure India post a formidable 185-run target for Windies while in reply the Caribbeans were folded to 167/9.
Captain Rohit expressed his happiness after clinching the T20I series 3-0 and said that it's a good sign moving forward as a group and something to be proud of.
“The team that used to chase, there are not many people here from that squad. We wanted to bat first and chase as well. Because our middle order is fairly new. Happy with the series. Pretty much got everything we wanted. We do understand we are very young as a team. We are still a good chasing side, but a lot of the players are missing. So we wanted the guys to understand how to bat in pressure situations. It was pleasing to see guys bailing the team out from situations. Good sign moving forward as a group and something to be proud of,” Rohit said in the post match presentation.
Rohit also achieved a feat of securing third most successive wins as a captain in T20Is as he spearheaded India to ninth victory on the trot in the shortest format from 2019 to 2022. The 33-year-old now looks forward to Sri Lanka series which will be a different challenge altogether as per him.
“Biggest take away from the ODIs was the middle order making it count. I was very impressed with our seam bowling in ODIs. And even here. Harshal is new. Avesh is on debut. Shardul is in and out. So challenge for us was to give them game time and see how they respond. When you play against a team like West Indies, you can test your batting and bowling. They bat very deep. It was a good challenge to defend in both games. Few guys miss out for the Sri Lanka series because we want to keep them fresh. But we have the World Cup in mind and we are trying to give game time for individuals. Sri Lanka will be a different challenge. But I am not someone who looks at the opposition, I would like to see what we can do as a team. Ground fielding, catching is something we can correct. Hopefully we can tick that box as well,” Rohit added.
Meanwhile, Man of the Match and Player of the series Suryakumar Yadav said that he tried to keep things simple and tried to replicate what he did in the first match.
“Just wanted to replicate what I did in the first game. Needed someone to stay there after Rohit got out. We had a long chat in the team meeting as to how we are going to react under immense pressure and it came out very well. I just try to keep things simple. Being a little harsh on yourself in the nets. Have some quality time in the nets. Excited for the next series," Suryakumar said.
On the other hand, the hapless Caribbeans' skipper Kieron Pollard looks forward to see what the future holds after the dismal outing in India where they first lost the ODI sereis 0-3 and then the T20I series 0-3.
“We were in the game for 15 overs, but we gave them 85-odd in the last five. We did have a good start with the bat, were 70-odd in 7 or 8 overs and weren't able to capitalize. Nicholas showed his consistency. Rovman Powell showed he wants to be part and parcel of the white-ball teams. Coming to India is going to be difficult but the way the boys responded was good on our part. From the ODI perspective, we had a chance to win that series, bowling them out for 230-odd in second game and last game, so it is not all doom and gloom. These guys are finding their foot, it is like on the job training for them and we look forward to see what the future holds,” Pollard said after the humiliating series sweep.
