How being ruthless played key role in Team India's series win against Windies

Despite a tense finish, Sharma chose to dwell on the positives, hailing an excellent performance on the field throughout the tournament by India.

Image Credits: Twitter/@ICC

India’s stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma said that the team had expressed a desire to be ruthless and register nothing short of a win in the Chennai T20 against West Indies where they prevailed by six wickets in an intense clash on Sunday. 

“We spoke at the start of this game that we wanted to be ruthless. There were chances of us being complacent and turning up at the ground. We didn't want to be complacent and wanted to come out and win,” said the 31-year-old opener, following the win. 

Despite losing two early wickets, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant stitched together a 130-run partnership to virtually ensure a comfortable win for the hosts.

However, Pant's dismissal in the penultimate over gave the West Indies an opportunity to make a comeback in the clash. 

India needed to score just five runs from the remaining seven balls to clinch victory with Manish Pandey, the new man on the crease.

Pandey and Dhawan scored four runs off the first three deliveries before Dhawan's untimely dismissal off the penultimate delivery added an edge to the clash. 

However, Manish Pandey ensured a win for India off the last delivery, stealing a run under pressure. 

“Games like these happen a lot. Especially in the IPL [Indian Premier League], these have happened a lot. I've been part of games like these with Mumbai Indians. Great effort to cross the finish line,” said Sharma.

“As a team, there is always scope for improvement. We need to improve on handling pressure situations while bowling,” he added. 

Despite a tense finish, Sharma chose to dwell on the positives, hailing an excellent performance on the field throughout the tournament by his side.

At the same time, he encouraged his outfit to develop an ability to handle a tense scenario while bowling.   

“It is important to stick to your strengths, and a lot of these guys have not played much for India so a home series like this was the perfect opportunity to show their talent,”said Sharma. ‘I was also very impressed with the fielding efforts in this tournament by the team.”

“As a team, there is always scope for improvement. We need to improve on handling pressure situations while bowling.” he added. 

India will be looking to ensure more of the same in the upcoming away series against Australia.