Skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday, February 21, 2022 said it was pleasing to see that the Indian team was able to defend targets in the T20 series against the West Indies after preferring to bat second over the years.
India have been giving opportunities to a host of youngsters since the disappointing T20 World Cup campaign last year. Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer performed well in the series that India won 3-0.
"The team that used to chase, there are not many people here from that squad. We wanted to bat first and chase as well. Because our middle order is fairly new," said Rohit at the post-match presentation referring to missing players like Hardik Pandya.
"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. Good sign moving forward as a group and something to be proud of." India had also won the ODIs 3-0 before the T20s.
Middle order
"The biggest take away 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." India will next host Sri Lanka from February 24.
"Few guys miss out for 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," added Rohit.
India smashed 86 runs in the last five overs to post 184 for five on Sunday. West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard said that took the game away from them.
"We were in the game for 15 overs, but we gave them 85-odd in the last five. We did have a good start with the bat, were 70-odd in 7 or 8 overs and weren't able to capitalize." The form of Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell was a positive, said Pollard. "Nicholas showed his consistency. Rovman Powell showed he wants to be part and parcel of the white-ball teams. Coming to India is going to be difficult but the way the boys responded was good on our part.
"From the ODI perspective, we had a chance to win that series, bowling them out for 230-odd in second game and last game, so it is not all doom and gloom. These guys are finding their foot, it is like on the job training for them and we look forward to see what the future holds.
"From the T20 perspective, we went with experience for the (2021) World Cup and didn't get the job done, but now we are working with what we got," he added.
