The Men in Blue under Virat Kohli clinched the victory in the 5th ODI and won the series 4-1. Rohit Sharma’s 125 with Ajinkya Rahane’s 61 built a path for team India victory. Australians who didn’t impress with their batting throughout the series had to work on their lows and come back strong in the upcoming T20I series.
Hardik Pandya was named as the Man of the series (ODI) and with this win, India has also retained their No. 1 ODI ranking, after a momentary slip. When asked about the series win, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli said,
“It’s become second nature (to win games), the management plays a massive part in motivating the players when we need to find motivation after being 3-0 up in the series. We had a chance to retain the No. 1 spot and we ended up doing well. Bhuvi and Bumrah have been outstanding for us, have been a class apart.
He added, “Whenever the game has slipped away, they’ve pulled it back nicely. Hardik Pandya has been the biggest positive. Good headaches regarding selection, you don’t mind that. These guys have made it possible by their hard work. That makes my job as a captain very easy.”
After a big series win, the Indian team selectors announced the squad for the 3-match T20I series against Australia starting from 7th October. And the selection looked a bit surprising to many as the expected aren’t included and unexpected were.
Here’s the T20I squad:
Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Axar Patel.
Did you find that Ajinkya Rahane, who had played some brilliant innings in the ODI series and scored four consecutive fifties for the team? For everyone’s surprise, Ajinkya Rahane was not in the squad and it raised some questions regarding his selection.
Ajinkya Rahane said that he respects the decision taken by the team management and the selectors. “Yes, so much cricket we play, the team management, selectors take a decision and we respect it. It is necessary and it helps you to give your best performance. Whoever gets a chance does well for the team. I have always enjoyed the competition,” Rahane told.
He may not have top scored for his side in any of the five ODIs against Australia in the recently concluded series, but it was his consistency with the scores that made a difference. Called in as a replacement for Shikhar Dhawan, Rahane failed to live up to the expectation with a score of just five in the first ODI, played in Chennai. But he bounced back with scores of 55, 70, 53, 61 that helped his side to pick up that initial momentum.
Rahane said, “Yes, I am happy. The responsibility and the opportunity I was given, the way I was supposed to bat, I did. Definitely, I am happy with the form I have carried from the West Indies tour, I have made four consecutive fifties. I could have converted the fifties into hundreds. It was in my mind to contribute, I shared three 100-run stands with Rohit (Sharma) and our aim was to give a good start to the team. In the future series if I get a chance I will convert the 50s into 100s.”
On the team’s performance, Rahane expressed satisfaction and said whoever got a chance has performed. “It is a proud moment for all of us. Our aim is 2019 World Cup and we are going in that direction. For that we have to play series by series and match by match, the aim of this team is to win every match and series, and we always try to improve.
All have performed. In the middle-order Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav, whenever they got an opportunity, they have performed. Rohit and Virat have always performed well. Kuldeep and Chahal got a chance and they did well. Our bench strength is good. The fact that all of us get a chance and perform is a good sign. If you have to win the 2019 World Cup, then you have to test your bench strength.”
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