Mumbai: After Rohit Sharma (71 off 34 balls) and KL Rahul (91 off 56 balls) gave India a fantastic start and added 135 in 11.4 overs, Virat Kohli played a blitzkrieg innings (70 off 29 balls) to take India to a mammoth total of 240 runs in their allotted 20 overs in the third T20I against West Indies in Mumbai on Wednesday. Later, they restricted the visitors at 173 for 8 to clinch the match and series 2-1.
Virat Kohli, who was Player of the Series, said, "We had spoken a lot. It was about going out on the field and executing. I had the opportunity to do something different, which I don't usually do. I told KL to stay on till the end, and said I'll try and smash a few. It was my second-year anniversary today, my wedding, and it was a special day for me. I know that I can contribute in all formats, it's about putting your mind to it. My role becomes crucial, because I have to play two roles. I'm trying to be able to play like this as well. You have to do it out there in the middle to gain confidence from it. I think two guys in the middle with clarity, the way Rahul and Rohit played today, that is key. Batting first [earlier], we've been too tight and hesitant, should we go for it, should we not."
KL Rahul, who was Player of the Match, said, "Both of them (Rohit and Virat) were in a destructive mood today. They were hitting the ball so sweetly from ball one. It's pretty obvious that our record hasn't been great batting first and we're looking to see what we can do to put up better totals. It was a great opportunity to bat first in a series decider, and it came off and it'll give us a lot of confidence going into the other T20 series going forward."
West Indies captain Kieron Pollard said, "Taking the positives, when you look at our performances with the bat through the series, consistent, we'll take that as a unit. At the end of the day, we know we need to get better at executing with the ball. In our minds 240 was gettable. 230 has been chased here when England played South Africa. There's a lot of emerging players coming through. Yes, the bowling is a concern, but we have a roster of guys coming through. Those are the areas, but we know success is a boring thing, you need to do the right things day in and day out. Yes, we lost 2-1, but we have three more games to look forward to in the ODIs."
