India thrashed West Indies by 88 runs in the fifth and final T20I in Florida.
It was a dead-rubber clash as India had already taken an unassailable lead in the series. Hence, the visitors went into the game without their key players, including captain Rohit Sharma, swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
In Rohit’s absence, Hardik Pandya led the side and the Indian team put on a flawless performance under him to clinch the series 4-1.
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After the game, regular skipper Rohit addressed the team in the dressing room and said: “It’s not an end of the road but a consistent mindset will be needed.”
“We have often talked about what we wanted to do, how we wanted to play. It’s one thing about talking about it. And another thing going out and trying to do. Trying to do it is what I felt (is important) and everyone tried to do that. Most of us actually went and did it. So that to me was very, very pleasing,” he added while speaking in a video uploaded on bcci.tv.
Coming to the match, the tourists rode on Shreyas Iyer’s 40-ball 64 and Deepak Hooda’s 25-ball 38 to post 188/7 in 20 overs after opting to bat first.
In reply, West Indies’ innings folded for a paltry 100 in 15.4 overs. India’s spin troika of Akshar Patel (3-15), Ravi Bishnoi (4-16), and Kuldeep Yadav (3-12) ran through the Caribbean batting line-up, sharing all 10 wickets among them.
Hailing his team, Rohit further said, “So we are not one or two guys who won games for us but all of us did that. So to me, that was very, very pleasing to see. Firstly, I really want to appreciate that all of us are buying that thought, and then going out there and actually doing it. So it takes a lot. It’s not easy, trust me it’s not easy, but we’ve tried it and succeeded. On most occasions we pretty much achieved it. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for us. We will continue to keep topping up the little aspects of the game.”
“It takes a lot to change the game and the mindset. It takes a lot to understand what the team requires. For me individual brilliance is good but those little efforts will give us more results consistently.”