After beating New Zealand 3-0 in the ODI series, Team India captain Rohit Sharma praised Shardul Thakur, who took crucial wickets from visitors to relieve some pressure from the team, saying teammates gave him a called ‘wizard’ in the squad while he literally makes striking contributions with ball and bat every time he is called upon to do so. Centuries from openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, followed by three-wicket hauls from Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav helped India beat New Zealand by 90 runs in the third and final ODI of the series on Tuesday at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore .
Shardul took the wickets of Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand captain Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips as he gave up 45 runs in 6 overs.
“We bowled pretty well, stuck to our plans and kept our nerves. Shardul has been doing it for a while. Teammates call him a magician and he came and performed again. He just needs to get more games under his belt,” Rohit said during the presentation after the game.
India won the first ODI, a high-scoring thriller at Hyderabad by 12 runs, as their teammates helped them to an eight-wicket victory at Raipur in the second game.
“I thought in the last six games we played most of the parts we played well and that’s key in 50-over games. We were consistent too. Without Siraj and Shami I knew we wanted to give chances to people on the bench. We wanted to get Chahal and Umran in the mix. We wanted to see how they react under pressure. I know we had the runs on the board, but I don’t think a score is safe here,” added the India captain up to it.
Rohit praised Kuldeep Yadav saying, “Every time I have given Kuldeep the ball, he has given us crucial breakthroughs. Wrist spinners usually get better with playing time.”
Shubman continued his purple spot as he reached the second century of his career, and second of the series, at the start of the innings. He hit 112 runs in just 78 balls. His knock was studded with 13 fours and five sixes. He scored with a batting frequency of 143.58 and Tuesday’s inning brought his total for the series to 360 runs.
He was named ‘Player of the Series’ for his sensational exploits with the Willow, including a first double hundred in the first game.
“Gill’s approach is quite similar in every game. He carries no emotional baggage from his previous innings and wants to start every game anew. For a youngster still finding his way in international cricket, it’s a great attitude to He could have taken things lightly, but he is cut from a different cloth,” Rohit added.
The Indian skipper also broke his first ODI century since January 2020, becoming the third highest six-hitter in ODI cricket history in the process. Rohit said that while century meant a lot to him, he knew he had hit well and it was just about “going that extra mile”.
“Today’s 100 means a lot to me. I hit well, so it was just about going the extra mile. The field was good today. To be honest, we don’t talk much about the rankings. Our dressing room discussions are mainly around doing the right things on the pitch. Australia is a quality team and it won’t be easy for us, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be ready (Border-Gavaskar Trophy),” said the India skipper.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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