Rohit Sharma was a pleased captain as Team India inflicted a 3-0 whitewash over West Indies with a convincing 17-run victory in the final T20I at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday (February 20).
Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue posted 184/5 in their stipulated 20 overs on the back of Suryakumar Yadav’s 65 off 31 balls. Venkatesh Iyer also played a handy cameo of 19-ball 35*.
With the ball, the hosts restricted the visitors to 167/9. Harshal Patel starred with the ball, claiming three wickets by conceding 22 runs in his four overs while other seamers like Deepak Chahar (2-15), Shardul Thakur (2-33), and Venkatesh Iyer (2-23) also returned with impressive figures.
Speaking after the game, Rohit said his side managed to achieve everything they wanted in the series against West Indies.
"The team that used to chase, there are not many people from that squad. We wanted to bat first and chase as well in this series. Because our middle order is fairly new. Happy with the series. Pretty much got everything we wanted. We do understand we are very young as a team. We are still a good chasing side, but a lot of the players are missing. It was pleasing to see guys bailing the team out from situations," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
"Good sign moving forward as a group and something to be proud of. The biggest takeaway in the ODIs was the middle order making it count. I was impressed with our seam bowling in ODIs. And even here. Harshal is new. Avesh is on debut. Shardul is in and out. So we wanted to see how the guys react and it was a good challenge to defend in both games against a quality West Indies team," he added.
The Indian team will now face Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series, beginning Thursday (February 24).
"Few guys miss out on the Sri Lanka series because we want to keep them fresh. But we have the World Cup in mind and we are trying to give game time for individuals. I am not someone who looks at the opposition, I would like to see what we can do as a team," said Rohit.
(With ANI inputs)
