Follow UsIndian captain Rohit Sharma hailed Bhuvneshwar Kumar after the pacer bowled a sensational 19th over that helped India win the second T20I against West Indies by eight runs.
Windies needed 29 runs off the final two overs when the pacer dismissed dangerous Nicholas Pooran (62 off 41 balls) and gave away just four runs from the penultimate over. Harshal Patel conceded 16 runs in the final over as India sealed the series 2-0 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
"It was very critical at that point when Bhuvneshwar bowled. That's where experience comes into play. Bhuvi has been doing it for many years and we believe in him a lot," Rohit said at the post-match presentation on Friday.
Batting first, India posted 186/5 in 20 overs thanks to the contributions from Virat Kohli (52 off 41 balls), Rishabh Pant (52 not out off 28 balls) and Venkatesh Iyer (33 off 18 balls). Rohit praised the trio for their performances under pressure.
"The way Virat started he took the pressure off me as well. It was a very important innings. And great finish by Rishabh and Venky Iyer," he added.
Chasing a big total, West Indies rode on the 100-run partnership between Pooran and Rovman Powell (68 not out off 36 balls) and looked set to win the game before Bhuvneshwar's 19th over. Rohit complimented the opposition for their batting performance.
"You are always a bit scared when you are playing against these guys. In the end it was a phenomenal finish. Right from the start we knew it wouldn't be easy. But I am proud we executed our plans under pressure," he said.
West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard was pleased with the performances of Pooran and Powell despite their fifties coming in a losing cause.
"He (Powell) was phenomenal today. His partnership with Pooran almost took us over the line. Pleased with the guys," he said after the match.
While praising the Indian bowlers, Pollard felt that the batters haven't done much wrong.
"The ball was moving around and they have got good bowlers. You have to give credit where it's due. In the first game you could have said we were a bit slow in the middle overs but we corrected that here. We cannot call the batters out. We can look at it in different ways how we could have got those eight runs. We are a work in progress," he added.