After Deepak Chahar's fantastic spell (3 for 4 in 3 overs) restricted West Indies to 146/6 in 20 overs, captain Virat Kohli's half century (59 off 45 balls) and a quick fire 65 off 42 balls from Rishabh Pant helped India achieve the target in 19.1 overs with seven wickets remaining in the third T20I played at Providence on Tuesday. With this win India clinched the T20 series 3-0.
Terming it to be a clinical performance from his team, Kohli said that though India wanted to try out players, their priority was to win games. "Deepak (Chahar) was great. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) was professional as always. Deepak is similar to Bhuvi. With the new ball, Deepak's skill is up there with Bhuvi. Swing has been his USP in the IPL too. He is really lethal with the new ball. He puts the batsmen in real trouble," said the skipper in all praise for Chahar, who got the Man-of-the-match award.
Praising Rishabh Pant for his knock, Kohli said that they were looking at Rishabh as the future. "He has got a lot of skill and talent. It's about winning and finishing games like these. In international cricket you need to tackle pressure differently. He has come a long way since he started. If he plays like this regularly, we will see his potential shine for India," said Kohli.
Terming the wicket to be better than that in Miami, Kohli said that West Indies got to a decent total because of the wicket. "However, we were professional with both ball and bat. We want to be as professional as possible in the ODIs and Tests. We want results, to win games of cricket. The WI ODI team is even stronger, so it will be hard work, but we will try to have fun as a team for a month."
Krunal Pandya, who was declared the Player of the Series, said, "It's quite satisfying. I played all three games and to contribute to winning way feels good. I am not thinking where I am playing. My main focus is to improve every day, every game. Pollard is a brother to me. He knows my friends, I know his friends. Whoever uses brains comes on top."
Meanwhile, losing captain Carlos Brathwaitesaid, "Didn't start well with the bat again. Kudos to Pollard. As a team, we talked about progress, we took it to the last over. We knew 140 was below par but the bowlers fought again. Not sure why the top-order isn't firing. Today, we didn't start well - if the top three play the way they do, we may have to take some decisions, but if they play how we know they play, we can get 180 easily. I, personally, need to perform as skipper. We have had some changes in the squad, so we need to establish ourselves as a unit further. We have seen some restructuring in batting from game to game and we are still searching for our perfect batting."
