India vs West Indies: We got whatever we wanted out of the series, says Rohit Sharma

India captain Rohit Sharma on Friday said that his side got it wanted out of the three-match ODI series against the West Indies.

India beat West Indies by 96 runs in the third ODI to complete a 3-0 series whitewash.
It was Rohit's first series as ODI captain.

"We have ticked a lot of boxes this series.
Whatever we wanted to get out of the series, we got what we wanted," Rohit said at the post match presentation ceremony.

He was asked about the dressing room atmosphere after Indian cricket recently witnessed some turbulent times following the end of Virat Kohli's leadership tenure.

"The noise will be around as long as we are playing. We know we are playing a high-profile sport in India and people look up to us and watch us.

As players and individuals, we know what we need to focus on," said the stylish opener.

"The outside noise doesn't bother the dressing room.

As long as we can come out and do what we are expected to do, that is very important."

He again heaped praise on pacer Prasidh Krishna, who took three wickets on Friday and was named player of the series for his nine scalps in three matches.

"We wanted bowlers to get bounce off the pitch, we had somebody who could come and bowl those lengths and ask those questions to the batters.

"It was good to see our fast bowlers, I was was impressed even with Siraj the way he bowled.
And Shardul, Deepak got the opportunity at different times."

On wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who made a successful comeback after being in the sidelines for a while, Rohit said, "Both Kuldeep and Chahal are crucial players for us.

They have done well together as a group, especially Kuldeep.

"Since Chahal was very much in the plan but Kuldeep went off the radar a little bit.
It was important to get him back, and get him back slowly."

"We start expecting things little early, and we are pretty sure we can see them back together very soon."

Talking about 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 doing a lot of practice 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.

"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."

 

Biggest positive was performance of bowling unit, reckons Rohit

India captain Rohit Sharma on Friday said that the biggest positive out of the ODI series against the West Indies was the performance of the bowling unit.

India blanked the West Indies 3-0 as they recorded an easy 96-run win in the third game on Friday.

"The biggest positive was obviously our bowling unit.
The bowling unit, if I have to differentiate, the fast bowlers and the spinners, they did a great job in this particular series," Rohit said at the post-match press conference.

"Along with Prasidh (Krishna), (Mohammed) Siraj was outstanding the way he bowled, with a lot of pace again, with the new ball and in the middle.

"Shardul (Thakur) played a couple of games, he bowled well in the middle and got one opportunity with the new ball and Deepak (Chahar), was very impressed with his skills as well, the way he swung the ball," he said.

The skipper also had words of praise for Karnataka speedster Prasidh Krishna, who took nine wickets in the series.

"Look, honestly I cannot tell you about Test cricket.
But, certainly he has impressed everyone with his bowling in this particular series.

"We were looking for someone like him to come out and bowl those overs in the middle and get us those breakthroughs, and we saw that clearly, the way he bowled in the last two games, with a lot of pace.
We could see that he was getting something out of the pitch as well.

"From the team's perspective, it is a good sign that he was able to come out and do that.
He is definitely a prospect for the future.
"
Rohit said that the middle-order batting was good in the series after an ordinary show in South Africa.

"What we were worried about was the fact that, how we challenge in the middle overs, but our middle order batting in this series was very good.

"We batted according to the conditions and we had spoken about it for a long time that middle order does not get too many opportunities because the top three bat, but in this series, middle order batted well," said Rohit.

Skipper also backed his predecessor and star batter Virat Kohli and laughed off concerns over his form.

"Virat Kohli ko confidence ki zaroorat hai? Kya baat kar rahe ho yaar," quipped Rohit.

"It is a different matter that he did not get a hundred, but in the series against South Africa, he scored two half-centuries in three games.
I don't think there is anything wrong.
The team management is not at all worried about that," he added.