Vimal Kumar is covering cricket for 23 years now.
This was India’s 13th consecutive ODI series win over the Caribbean. With this, they have won both series on this tour thus far, and both teams will move on to the T20I leg of the tour.
After losing the second game, the visitors carried on their decision to rest Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the series decider as well.
After being asked to bat first by Shai Hope, who won the toss, half-centuries from Ishan Kishan (77), Shubman Gill (85), Hardik Pandya (70*), and Sanju Samson (51) helped India post a massive 351/5, Shardul Thakur with four wickets and Mukesh Kumar with three scalps shattered the top order of West Indies lineup.
Despite a 50-plus stand in the lower order between Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie, the hosts could only muster 151 runs and lost the game by 200 runs.
Ishan Kishan was given the Player of the Series award, while Shubman Gill was named the Player of the Match.
After the match, when the team photo happened with the winning trophy, India’s regular skipper Rohit Shamade did a heartwarming gesture when he pulled journalist Vimal Kumar to join the Indian team during the win celebration, which was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for the journalist.
“Cricket, you beauty. I am the richest person in this frame. If pure love and affection can ever define the human side of Indian cricket, this one will be for posterity. Thanks @BCCI @JayShah for having such wonderful brand ambassadors of our game. Privileged & Speechless,” he tweeted.
Vimal Kumar shared his thoughts in a video posted on his YouTube channel and spoke about the “arrogant” remarks on the Indian team made by Kapil Dev. He said that before the game, people from outside were running the agenda.
He said that Rohit Sharma pulled him into the winning photo while the team was celebrating and invited him to join. In his 23-year journalism career, Vimal claimed that it was an unbelievable event and that he had never imagined such a thing happening.
Vimal has spoken with the Indian skipper several times before and has known him since his early days. He also brought up Kapil Dev's remark about how arrogant the Indian squad was.
Vimal said, “I don’t know how Kapil Dev said that Team India is arrogant. But speaking from my own experience, this is their humility, this is their modesty. He stated that the team has shown such love and affection for a normal journalist, which is priceless."
He also talked about his book launch when he was with MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar, which was another big moment in his career. However, then he said that a photo with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma was a wish come true because these are the most lovable cricketers in the modern era.