India skipper Rohit Sharma expressed happiness after his side defeated New Zealand by 73 runs to claim a clean sweep in the three-match T20I series on Sunday. Rohit Sharma's 56-run knock, followed by Axar Patel's three-wicket haul, helped India defeat New Zealand by 73 runs in the third and final T20I at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. "It's important to start well. That's always been my mindset. Once you've seen the pitch you know what you've got to do. It was nicely coming onto the bat with the dew coming early. We had something planned as a batting group. Wouldn't say it worked out well. Room for improvement in the middle order.
"The batting front - KL (Rahul) missed out today but his form is critical. Middle-order didn't get much opportunity except today. The spinners did the job for us in the entire series. The way (Ravichandran) Ashwin bowled, Axar. And how (Yuzvendra) Chahal came back. Good to see Venkatesh Iyer bowling those overs with the skills he has," said Rohit Sharma in the post-match presentation.
"Important for us going forward. I would prefer that going forward, teams around the world bat deep till No.8, No.9. Harshal (Patel), when he plays for Haryana, he opens the batting for them. And then Deepak (Chahar), we've seen what he did in Sri Lanka.
"Chahal was looking forward to bat as well. I've grown up playing on a concrete pitch back in the day. Once I started opening, a lot of things changed. Won't say it (playing the pull) comes naturally. I've practised a lot playing those shots," he added.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma played a knock of 56 runs as India posted 184/7. In the final three overs, the Men in Blue managed to add 36 more runs, taking the score past the 180-run mark. Deepak Chahar played a cameo of 21 runs off just 8 balls as India posted more than a competitive total on the board.
With this win, India won the three-match series 3-0 and now both teams will square off in two-match Test series, beginning Thursday in Kanpur.