Ravi Shastri lauds team effort after series whitewash over South Africa
Team India coach Ravi Shastri lauded India's team effort as the hosts completed a series whitewash over South Africa for the first time in their history on Tuesday in Ranchi.
Needing two wickets to win the game, India folded the match in just two over with debutant Shahbaz Nadeem taking two in two at his home ground JSCA International Stadium Complex.
Speaking after the game, Shastri was ecstatic and lauded the collective effort from the team in their complete mauling of the Proteas.
"It is a team effort. Normally, in India you have two players hogging the limelight. But in this series, everyone chipped in. That is what you want," Shastri told Manjrekar.
When asked about what has changed over the years in Team India's mindset, Shastri said that the team now wants to take 20 wickets no matter what the pitch is like.
"We had a wish that we could take the pitch out of the equation. We always wanted to take 20 wickets irrespective of where we were playing. Our batting is pretty much like a Ferrari taking off. We are just focused on taking 20 wickets," Shastri said.
Shastri, a fellow Mumbaikar, lauded Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma as well for their contribution with the bat and according to him, Rahane was going nowhere but Rohit was the find for him at the top of the order.
"Ajinkya Rahane was always there. He just needed to rediscover himself. When you need to open in Tests, you might get out in the first 10 balls. But Rohit did well to hang in there for the first two hours. And things changed after lunch for him to take advantage of that. The job satisfaction that an opener gets is wonderful," Rahane said.
He also lauded Nadeem for his impressive show on his debut in Test cricket after playing 110 first-class matches and taking 410 wickets.
"Extremely impressed with Nadeem. He comes over the top and has a great wrist position. The guy has put in the yards at the domestic level and am glad he finally had his chance at his home ground. He had no nerves and bowled three maidens on the trot," Shastri said before signing off.
