Rohit Sharma-led India started off with an easy win in the first T20I of the three-T20I series against West Indies at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. India finished off the run chase with seven balls to spare but skipper Rohit wants India to be more clinical in their approach and feels “should have finished that off a little early”.
“Should have finished that off a little early, wanted to be clinical. Happy with the win and we can take a lot of confidence from this game. Restricting them to that score was a great effort from the bowlers. With the bat we were not clinical and it's something we can learn from,” Rohit said in a post-match presentation.
Chasing a total of 158, Rohit was destructive at the top as he did not let West Indies bowlers get early wickets. Rohit scored a quickfire 40 off just 19 deliveries. However, India struggled in the middle overs as Ishan Kishan struggled to get going. In addition, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant could not see India through and lost their wickets. In the end, Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer finished off the run chase without breaking a sweat.
While Venkatesh finally proved himself in the middle-order by finishing the run chase in the penultimate over, newly-appointed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper was on the sidelines. Rohit talked about leaving Shreyas out as well after the game.
“Someone like Shreyas Iyer is sitting out, very hard on him not making it to playing eleven, but we needed someone to bowl in the middle which is why we couldn't get him in. It's always nice with that kind of competition going around and a lot of the guys are missing out as well. I'm happy to have that kind of challenges rather than not having players available and not in form. We were very clear with Shreyas and we told him we want that option going into the World Cup. Guys do understand what the team wants and all these guys are professionals and they do understand that team comes first,” the 34-year-old explained.
On the other hand, Rohit was all praises for Ravi Bishnoi. The young leg-spinner became third Indian spinner to win ‘player of the match’ award on T20I debut with his 2/17.
“Bishnoi is a very talented guy which is why we drafted him into the squad straightaway. We see something different in him. He's got lot of variations and skill-set with him. He can bowl at any stage and it gives us a lot of options to rotate the other bowlers. Very happy with his first game for India and he's got a bright future and it's just about us now on how we use him,” the limited-overs skipper said.
