India’s Rohit Sharma fields during the Twenty20 international cricket match between India and West Indies. (Source: AP)
India claimed a 3-0 clean sweep victory over West Indies as they beat the visitors by six-wickets in a thrilling third and final T20I in Chennai on Sunday. Rohit Sharma, who fell after scoring a boundary, said that these kind of performances give them confidence.
Shikhar Dhawan smashed a career-best 92 in his 62-ball innings and forged a 130-run partnership with Rishab Pant (58) for the third wicket to take India home in the last ball of the innings. The hosts scored one run off the last delivery to secure the victory in Chennai. Speaking about how such matches happen a lot in the Indian Premier League, the Indian captain said, “Games like these happen a lot. Especially in the IPL, these have happened a lot. We wanted to be ruthless and not take a backseat. This kind of performance gives a lot of confidence.”
Praising the bowling efforts by team India, Rohit added, “We didn’t want to be complacent and wanted to come out and win. As a team there is always scope for improvement. We need to improve on handling pressure situations while bowling. It is important to stick to your strengths, and a lot of these guys have not played much for India so a home series like this was the perfect opportunity to show their talent. I was also very impressed with the fielding efforts in this tournament by the team.”
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite said, “It would have been (great end to the series). We had a chat before the game and talked about every game being important. We wanted to put a smile on the fans’ face but didn’t get the result we would have liked. I will take the effort and belief, especially taking it to the last ball after Shikhar and Rishabh’s partnership. We saw a few balls grip but on reflection we did not switch quickly enough.”
Praising Pooran, who scored a quick-fire half-century, Brathwaite added, “There are a few here; Shai, Hetmyer and Pooran. But it is important to get the best out of everyone and create a unit that can challenge for the T20 World Cup in Australia.”