Kumble, Hirwani`s tips helped me, says Rahul Sharma

Bangalore: Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma on Saturday attributed his five-wicket haul against the West Indies `A` in the one-off Twenty20 match to the tips he had received from former captain Anil Kumble and Narendra Hirwani.

"I had useful discussions with Hirwani who gave me some important tips on leg-spin. I also talk a lot to Kumble and the interactions paid off and I got five wickets in this match," Rahul said at the post-match press conference. While Hirwani bagged 66 wickets in 17 Tests, Kumble grabbed 619 wickets in 132 Tests. India `A`, which lost the three-match unofficial ODI series 1-2 against West Indies `A`, today posted a crushing 93-run win in the one-off T20 against the same opponents. "T20 is a high-intensity contest and nobody brood over last performances. We went there to win this match and we did it," said Rahul. On his return to form, Rahul said he went through a difficult phase as he had a lacklustre last IPL season, but insisted that now he was doing his best to come out of it by putting up a good show. "I believe if I perform well enough I can also do well for my country," he said. Meanwhile, WI `A` captain Kieran Powell said his team lost far too many wickets in an effort to increase the pace. "Chasing 215 is always a tough ask in T20. We went for the chase but failed," he said. Powell admitted that complacency on the field proved fatal for his team as it gave opportunity to the Indian batsmen to get over the bowling. "Catching has been a problem since the last one-dayer. This is an area, which we ought to brush up before we go into the four-day series. We cannot afford to do it and see where we ended up today," he added. On the overall limited-over series, Powell expressed happiness over defeating a strong Indian team at their own backyard, especially with bowlers performing well. "I wished they could have fired in this match too, but unfortunately it didn`t happen," he said. PTI