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Rohit backs Kul-Cha to play together soon

February 11, 2022 22:16 IST

Virat Kohli and Kuldeep Yadav celebrate the wicket of Nicholas Pooran during the 3rd ODI on Friday

IMAGE: Virat Kohli and Kuldeep Yadav celebrate the wicket of Nicholas Pooran during the 3rd ODI on Friday. Kuldeep, who made a comeback into the ODI squad, finished with two scalps on Friday. Photograph: BCCI

India skipper Rohit Sharma expressed happiness after his side defeated West Indies by 96 runs in the third and final ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.

 

With this win, India swept the series 3-0.

"Definitely not looking at those numbers (captaincy record). Have ticked a lot of boxes in this series. Whatever we wanted to get out of this series, we pretty much got, he said at the post match presentation.

“Noise will be around as long as we're playing. People look up to us, everybody watches us. As players, as individuals, we know what we need to focus on. Outside noise doesn't bother the dressing room. Said it in the last game as well -- never seen something like that in India (Prasidh's spell). Good to have someone who can hit the deck and get that bounce.

"Although I didn't feel like this was Indian conditions, was good to see the fast bowlers actually. Was also impressed with Siraj. And then Shardul and Deepak did the job for us," said Rohit in praise of his seamers.

Shreyas Iyer led India's fight back in the 3rd ODI with an impressive 80

IMAGE: Shreyas Iyer led India's fight back in the 3rd ODI with an impressive 80. Photograph: BCCI

Speaking of the spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Deepak Chahal, Rohit said: “Both Kuldeep and Chahal are crucial players for us. Especially Kuldeep. Chahal was very much in the plans and Kuldeep went off the radar. It was important to get him back slowly. Important to give them that confidence. We start expecting things early than expected. Important to give them some cushion. Pretty sure we'll see them together soon," he added.

On the middle-order batters who bailed the team out on Friday after top-order failure, the captain said, "With the top order not firing, it was good for the middle order to bail us out. Today they got us to a respectable total. This was the biggest positive."

Prasidh said he has been practising a lot and the few Vijay Hazare matches he had played helped him to keep in rhythm.

"Anything going to the keeper or the slips, I like that kind of wickets. Today both wickets I got, it was quite nice to see the ball got the carry and good to have people behind who won't miss out when you create an opportunity," he said.

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran scored  a fighting 34 before being dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav 

IMAGE: West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran scored a fighting 34 before being dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. Photograph: BCCI

"When you are running in and see the ball flying to the keeper, its what any fast bowler wants. The kind of guys we have in the team, everybody is good and we've been learning from each other.

West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran admitted that his side will need to improve a lot in this format.

"The way we bowled in the series was wonderful. We have a lot of work to do with bowling and batting, more so batting this series. The way the boys bowled was fantastic. It seems like we are better at the shorter format, but we need to put in work in the longer format."

Both teams will next take on each other in the T20I series in Kolkata, starting February 16.

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