NEWS
Follow UsIndia couldn’t have asked for a better game to break their win drought of 2022, with a thumping six-wicket win over West Indies. While India had all their bases covered, both with the bat and the ball, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma still believes that there is a ‘room for improvement’.
Rohit, in the post-match presentation, stated that it was a great overall effort from the team, ticking all the boxes discussed beforehand.
“In patches, I don't believe in a perfect game. We want to keep getting better as a team and all in all it was a great effort from everyone. We spoke of what we wanted to achieve and we ticked all the boxes. They [Holder-Allen] created that partnership and we wanted to get them out,” Rohit stated in the post-match presentation.
The 34-year-old opines that the ultimate goal for the team is for the individual players to challenge themselves and take up responsibility, something that was on display during the first ODI here in Ahmedabad.
“I'm open to a lot of things if we need to change. The end goal is we should be able to achieve what the team wants - whether we want to bat or bowl differently. Honestly, I don't think we need to change a whole lot. All I will ask of the players it to challenge yourself and be innovative.”
On his return to the sport, the right-hander dashed his way at the top of the order, with a 51-ball 60 before being trapped in front during the 14th over of the innings. In addition, 46 of those 60 runs came in the powerplay, the most the right-hander has scored in the first ten overs in ODIs.
“I've been off for a while and didn't play for two months. I was back home, though, and hitting balls. It's about finding rhythm as a batter and I was confident going into this game. The pitch had something in it.”
“There was softness early on and in this particular game the toss became important. But, if you keep ticking all the boxes, you can restrict any team and the same goes with the batting. Toss - I honestly want to take it away from the play, but if you win the toss, you take advantage of it.”
Adjudged player of the match for his four wicket haul, Yuzvendra Chahal said: "It felt good. Washi (Sundar) struck twice in an over so we knew pressure was on them. My job was to sustain that pressure.
"Got the feeling watching Washi bowl that the ball was gripping. Had a chat with Rohit, Virat (Kohli), they said the pace is important. My thought was that if it's turning at pace, keep doing it.
"Threw in a slower one here and there as a variation. I looked back at the footage from the South Africa series to see where I can improve."
(Inputs from PTI)