Lower-order contributed again: Sehwag
First Published : 05 Dec 2011, 04:53
Last Modified : 05 Dec 2011, 04:53
Ahmedabad, Dec 5: Having won the third ODI by 16 runs, West Indies now trail India 2-1 in the five-match series with two more games to go. India suffered another batting collapse, with the top-order disappointing yet again. Rohit Sharma, however, continued his charmed run and was the top-scorer for the hosts with 95 runs.
In a brief interaction with the media during the presentation ceremony, skipper Virender Sehwag spoke about the match and lauded Rohit’s efforts.
Excerpts:
On the last five overs of the West Indies innings
When two big hitters like [Darren] Sammy and Andre Russell were batting, it was difficult to bowl in any [good] areas because they were connecting very well and were hitting [very] hard, so it was difficult. But I told my boys, ‘Just back yourself, try to bowl as many yorkers as you can.’ They tried hard but couldn’t bowl perfect yorkers. But at the end of the day we fought well and it’s good for the youngsters [as] they are learning match by match.
On 260 being a gettable target given the good pitch conditions
Yes, [but] when you lose early wickets it’s difficult to chase any target. Rohit [Sharma] and [Ravichandran] Ashwin [nevertheless] batted really well. They had a good partnership and in the end the last-wicket [partnership between Abhimanyu Mithun and Umesh Yadav was commendable]. They tried hard but if you lose early wickets then it’s difficult to chase any target. Our lower-order contribution is higher than the top-order so we have to look at ourselves.
On the top-order needing to fire in the next two games
Yes. In the last three games [the] first three or four batsmen haven’t score runs. Hopefully in the coming games we can give a good start and at least two of the top three can bat [for] 30-40 overs so that we can set the target [or] chase the target [easily].
On Rohit Sharma
Till the time Rohit was there, we kept thinking he could win the game for us. But unfortunately he got run out and [also] missed his hundred. It happens in the game of cricket. I think he played really well.
