Rohit Sharma led Team India have registered another convincing win over New Zealand. With this, they have sealed the series by 3-0 as well.
India won the toss and opted to bat first. Ishan Kishan opened with Sharma and they added 69 runs within 7 overs. Rohit smashed another stunning fifty (56 off 31 with 5 fours and 3 sixes). Later, some quick cameos from Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Deepak Chahar helped them put up 184 on board.
For New Zealand, Mitchell Santner claimed 3 for 27 in his 4 overs spell. While chasing, Martin Guptill smashed a quickfire 51 off 36 with 4 fours and as many sixes. Apart from him, there were no others who could step up in the chase and they eventually got out for 111. For India, Axar Patel picked up 3 for 9.
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— BCCI (@BCCI) November 21, 2021
After the win, Rohit Sharma, the Player of the Series, said: “It’s important to start well. That’s always been my mindset. Once you’ve seen the pitch you know what you’ve got to do. It was nicely coming onto the bat with the dew coming early. We had something planned as a batting group. Wouldn’t say it worked out well. Room for improvement in the middle order. The batting front – KL missed out today but his form is critical. Middle order didn’t get much opportunity except today. The spinners did the job for us in the entire series. The way Ashwin bowled, Axar. And how Chahal came back. Good to see Venkatesh Iyer bowling those overs with the skills he has.
Important for us going forward. I would prefer that going forward .. teams around the world bat deep till No.8, No.9. Harshal, when he plays for Haryana, he opens the batting for them. And then Deepak, we’ve seen what he did in SL. Chahal was looking forward to bat as well. I’ve grown up playing on a concrete pitch back in the day. Once I started opening a lot of things changed. Won’t say it (playing the pull) comes naturally. I’ve practised a lot playing those shots. Some days it comes off very well but I’ve got out also playing that shot. That’s why I say when you’ve got a certain strength, you’ve got to back it.”
Axar Patel, the Player of the Match said: “Earlier when I got hit, I used to bowl quicker and quicker. Now I try to vary my pace. I try to stay a step ahead of the batter about what he’s trying to do. There was help in this wicket. Ball was stopping. So I just tried hitting good areas because the wicket had some help. Want to take this confidence forward. Obviously if you take 27 wickets in a series, you feel like you can do anything (Tests against Eng).”
Mitchell Santner said: “Tough one to predict what the dew is going to be like. They bowled very well at the top, especially Axar. Credit to India for the way they played throughout the series. We were probably off. Came up against a very good Indian side. There were periods in every game. Pressure Rahul and Rohit put on us was tough to come back from. He’s obviously a great player for us (Kane). With the schedule being quite tight, it gives other guys an opportunity. With the WC being in 11 months time you always look ahead. The way Guptill batted at the top, different guys chipping in at different times (positives). Challenging as a spinner with dew around. Second game was very wet. The way Ashwin and Axar adapted..”
Harshal Patel said: “It seems so (easy). But I know it is a pendulum and it is going to turn the other way some time. You have to be ready for all of that and be switched on. My skill set is not going to change overnight, I have had success by doing the things I do well. I tried to do the same in the IPL and executed well and got the results. Execution is a big part of the delivery, if you get it wrong more often than not it is going to sail over the rope. Sometimes your confidence is not up to the mark but you have to keep backing yourself. It (slower ball) is a weapon that I use often and one that I bank on.”
Ishan Kishan said: “Boult got me out in the World Cup, so I was ready for that ball on the pads and I hit it away. I’ll do whatever (keeping/ fielding) the team asks me to do. The coach and our captain asked me to keep things simple. They asked me to play my shots, and it was fine even if I got out in the process.
Venkatesh Iyer: That’s what I am in the team for – batting and bowling. It was good to get a bowl finally. Everyone aspires to play for the country. If the team wins and that too comprehensively, it’s a special feeling. I hope that this continues for a prolonged period of time. I have always maintained that as a professional cricketer, you got to be really flexible as to where you want to bat. There might be occasions where even though you are going to play in the middle-order, you might get to bat within the powerplay. That’s something I have really worked on – adapting to whatever situation I am going to play. I am going to look to better that.”
Yuzvendra Chahal said: “I realized my mistake after two overs. It was drifting down the leg-side initially, but I got the line right when the ball started to grip, so I bowled the fourth stump line outside off. I was working on my googlies (in the last 6 months). It has helped me to confuse the batters, so I’m pretty happy with that.”
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