‘Turned challenges into opportunities’: India skipper Dhawan after win over WI

Port of Spain [Trinidad], July 28 (ANI): Following a clean sweep in the three-match ODI series against West Indies, India skipper Shikhar Dhawan stated that he is pleased with the entire team’s performance as they turned challenges into opportunities.
Top bowling spells from spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and pacers Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur helped India crush West Indies by 119 runs in the rain-hit third and final ODI of the series here at Queen’s Park Oval on Thursday.
“I am very very proud of the team. The way we have played the whole series, every match we have shown our character and turned challenges into great opportunities and I am happy with the way everyone has performed,” said Dhawan in a post-match press conference.
The skipper went on to praise his team for their collective efforts which led them to the ODI series win over West Indies.
“As per the team’s perspective, there are a lot of positives to take from this series. Talking about the batting unit, everyone contributed equally in scoring runs. Shreyas, Shubman, Axar, everyone made runs which is a good sign for the team as they all are youngsters and playing in such conditions was a difficult task,” said Dhawan.
“In bowling, we had Siraj, Shardul, who bowled fantastically. Then we had Axar, Yuzi, and even Hooda too bowled well. So, the bowling unit also did well. It feels good when the entire team perform so well,” he added.
India can walk away with a lot of positives after this match as their batting was great, lead from the front by openers Shikhar Dhawan (58) and Shubman Gill (98*).
“I am totally pleased with my batting because the way ball was touching my bat and I was able to play my shots with so much of ease. I know that I bat with a lot of calmness and there was no rush in my batting,” said Dhawan.
Coming to the match, setting a target of 257 in 35 overs after the match was hit by rain, Windies batters never looked as if they were in the game as Indian bowlers feasted on them. The hosts fell prey to a world-class bowling attack with their careless shot selection. Chahal (4/17), Siraj (2/14) and Thakur (2/17) were extremely economic with the ball and delivered timely blows to their opponent.
Chasing 257, West Indies got off a nightmarish start, losing opener Kyle Mayers and Shamarh Brooks in the second over to pacer Mohammed Siraj.
Following this, opener Shai Hope and Brandon King resumed the chase for the hosts. They both maintained solid running between the wickets. King was the aggressor during the partnership. Hope-King added 47 runs to their stand before the former was stumped by wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson for 22 off 33 balls on a delivery by spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
At the end of 10 overs, West Indies was 48/3, with King (24*) and Pooran (1*).
Captain Nicholas Pooran was next up on crease. The 12th over was bowled by pacer Prasidh Krishna and it turned out to be expensive, with Pooran-King smashing four boundaries in it collectively.
It was spinner Axar Patel who gave India their fourth wicket, removing King, who was looking threatening. He had scored 42 off 37 balls before he was trapped leg before wicket by the bowler.
Keacy Carty was next up on the crease. Pooran’s game became more attacking, smashing Deepak Hooda for a four and a six and Axar for a four as well. The duo took the hosts to the 100-run mark at end of 18 overs, with Pooran being the aggressor.
Shardul Thakur broke the 29-run stand between the duo, bowling out Carty for just five runs off 17 balls. At this point, half of Windies line up was back in the hut at 103.
Jason Holder was the next batter to arrive on the crease. The all-rounder was making his return to white-ball cricket after a while and had a task in hand to build a solid stand with his skipper. Prasidh finally got his first wicket of the day, dismissing the danger man Pooran for 42 off 32 balls after being caught by Dhawan at mid-on.
Thakur gave another jolt to the hosts, sending back Akael Hosein for just one run after skipper Dhawan took another great catch. There was not much batting left with the Windies except for Holder, who needed to pull off something really great to guide his team to a consolation win.
Things continued to go downhill for Windies, with Paul dismissed for a duck by Chahal after he was caught by Thakur at point while attempting to reverse sweep. Holder was running out of partners at this point, now joined by Hayden Walsh. Walsh was the ninth wicket down at a score of 137 after being caught by Dhawan at slips.
Jayden Seales was the last player dismissed, sent back to the pavilion by Chahal. Windies were bundled out for 137. They had lost the match by 119 runs and India had completed a 3-0 clean sweep in the series.
Chahal finished as the leading bowler for India with 4/17. Siraj and Thakur also took two wickets. Krishna and Axar got one scalp each. (ANI)