Hardik Pandya is the biggest positive of the series, says Virat Kohli
Internet Desk: India’s star opening batsman Rohit Sharma achieved a memorable milestone on the way to his 16th ODI ton as the Men in Blue thrashed Australia by seven wickets in the fifth and final ODI to clinch the series and cement their no.1 spot in the ICC ODI rankings. Rohit looked in much pain later in his innings, According to the Mumbai batsman nothing in life comes with an ease, he knows his strengths and weaknesses and the reason for his success is he always tries to keep everything simple.
“I guess it was a bit of cramp, the weather has been hot. That’s always been my thing – to keep it simple. And that has worked for me. Certain areas I keep working off the field. Nothing comes easy. I know my strengths and weaknesses,” said Rohit at the Post match presentation ceremony.
Rohit lauded the Aussies for their fight too.” I guess it was a bit of cramp, the weather has been hot. That’s always been my thing – to keep it simple. And that has worked for me. Certain areas I keep working off the field. Nothing comes easy. I know my strengths and weaknesses,” concluded Rohit.
Virat also lauded the performance of his pace bowling duo Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah for their outstanding performances in the series.
“Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar) and (Jasprit) Bumrah have been outstanding for us. When Umesh (Yadav) and (Mohammed) Shami got their opportunity they were pretty good as well. And those two wrist spinners (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) in the middle overs were too very good,” he said.
After leading the team to their sixth consecutive bilateral series victory, a satisfied Kohli said he was satisfied with the overall performance of the team.
“I thought it was a really convincing series win. We’ve ticked all the boxes. We have been put under pressure, and we have come back four times to win four games. Lots of positives to come out of this series,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony here.
Asked about how difficult it is to keep the team motivated for an inconsequential game, Kohli said: “The management has played a role in that as well. I think it’s become second nature to the players (to keep themselves motivated despite already winning the series).”
Hardik was adjudged Man of the Series for his brilliant all-round performance against the Aussies. After this brilliant performance Hardik is eyeing for more improvement in his play. According to him fitness is the key for his success.”When I went to bat at No. 4, got a few runs, and the team won the series. There is always a scope of improvement. I’m just focussing on that, working hard on my fitness. Pretty important to keep myself fit. It’s always a pleasure to play against Australia. I was looking forward to this series. Really happy that I got this award, and we won the series,” said Pandya.
Steve Smith looked dejected with his team’s performance. He said Australia were 50 runs short of what could have been a winning score on this wicket.
“Probably around a 300 wicket, I think. Finchy (Aaron Finch) and Davey (David Warner) played really well, and maybe one of our top four needed to go on and make a big score,” he said.
“It was a disappointing performance, and there’s a few things for us to look at. We just need to get the right balance and put consistent performances on the board.
“We’ve played some good cricket at times, but we’ve been outplayed and India thoroughly deserved to win. You’ve still got to try and keep a positive frame of mind. We did a few things well in this series – we just need to do them more consistently. We’ve got to let this go pretty quickly, and we have the T20s in six days, and hopefully we can go home with a trophy,” he added.