After the end of the five-match home ODI series against Windies that the hosts India won by 3-1, Indian head coach Ravi Shastri admitted that they performed below par during the second and third ODI of the series but has back on track again with two dominating victories.
India started the series with a convincing 8 wickets victory after chasing the 300+ target comfortably but failed to win in next two matches as the second ODI was tied with the last ball boundary finished by the Windies centurion Shai Hope and the visitors won the third ODI by 43 runs.
From the 1-1 situation in the ODI series, India returned to their dominant performances and claimed two back-to-back one-sided victories to secure the ODI series.
After winning the series on Thursday, Indian head coach Ravi Shastri said, “We are back on track. I thought we were below par in the field in the second and third ODI. We could have done much better. Sometimes you need a wake-up call and we were at our best in the last two ODIs.”
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Shastri also praised the Windies ODI side as he feels that they are a promising unit and he also confident that they will test some big sides at soon.
Indian head coach said about Windies team, “This Windies team is a promising unit. They have some exceptional players who with exposure, I am sure will test some of the big sides.”
The Indian top-order batsmen were in very good forms in this ODI series. Apart from the limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma and the skipper Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu has also performed very well at no.4 batting position, who just returned to the international cricket in this September, after more than two years long wait.
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In this ODI series, Rayudu scored 217 runs with an average of 72.33 and strike-rate 101.40, including one century and one half-century. Shastri is happy on Rayudu’s comeback as he felt that it was a pressure situation for Rayudu.
Shastri spoke about Rayudu, “I am pretty happy with Rayudu. It is never easy to make a comeback in the team after couple of years. Even though you have to express yourself, you hold back and that is understandable because couple of bad performance can lose you your place in the team. He has handled the pressure really well and batted really well in the last match.”
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The Indian coach has also praised the 20-year-old left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who made his international cricket debut in the 2018 Asia Cup in UAE in this September and was one of the stand-out performers in the recently concluded home ODI series against Windies.
In the ODI series, Khaleel was the joint second leading wicket-taker as he took seven wickets in four matches with the average of 24.42, including the best bowling 3/13 at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai (fourth ODI). Shastri is impressed with him and feels to add speed to become more effective.
Shastri said, “The left-arm fast bowlers can be very handy. Khaleel is raw, he doesn’t have the experience but he has the variations and has the aggression too. Once he adds to his speed, he will be more than effective.”
