India had started their tour of Australia by losing the first two ODI matches at the SCG and things were not great for the Men in Blue. But they made an amazing comeback into the limited over series.
India won the last ODI and the first two T20I matches to end the white-ball leg on a high. The vice-captain for this white-ball leg, KL Rahul revealed the inspiration for this amazing comeback, saying the team decided to take a new approach towards the remaining games after the loss in the first two ODI matches.
“It's never easy coming to Australia and losing two games and having to make a comeback. What we spoke after the first two one-dayers was that we are going to treat the rest of the four games as a new series and try and win those four games,” Rahul said.
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Rahul also added that India was tested in every aspect of the game by the Australians.
"This ODI and T20s has been a learning curve for all of us. We were challenged in every game and it was important that we stick together as a group and keep believing in each other. We hope that we can improve and keep getting better as individuals and also a team," he said in a video posted on BCCI's Twitter handle.
Meanwhile, it was a brilliant outing for all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who played as a specialist batsman. He excelled in the ODIs and T20Is and was named the Player of the series in the T20I series. He dedicated the award to his son Agastya, who was born in July this year.
"I would like to dedicate this award to my son and my family back home because they have been a great support to me throughout. It has been an absolute team performance. I am happy to see that we have won the series where we haven't seen any individual brilliance. Multiple people stepping up in different situations,” Hardik said.
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"Special mention of Natarajan as well. Coming from that kind of background, seen a lot of hardships. It has been a fantastic journey, with lots of inspiration people can get from him. His success shows anyone can achieve anything if you believe in yourself," he praised T Natarajan.
Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, and Manish Pandey, who will return to India, also shared their joy on ending the white-ball series on a high.
"I really wanted to do well in a country like Australia. Winning two games against them is a good thing, especially we didn't really start well in the ODI series. But we came well in the third ODI and T20s and I am very happy we have won the series," Sundar said.
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Sanju Samson said, "We fought back really well after the two ODI losses. Great heart shown by everyone, the way we came back. Everyone is performing, everyone is in a great mindset after the challenging IPL. Everyone is two-and-half months out of their homes, spending time in the bubble and coming here I think it's really challenging."
Manish Pandey praised Hardik and Natarajan and said, "They (Australia) were playing really well in the One-Day series but we came back well in the T20s. The guys have done really well, specially man-of-the-series Hardik and Natarajan. Really proud to go back on a winning note from here.”
(PTI inputs)
