India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday credited the 2-1 ODI series win over the West Indies to team effort and said bowling performance has also improved a lot as compared to the recent contest against Australia.
“If you compare the Australia series to the kind of death bowling we did today...even if we were missing the yorkers, it was not by much. They were ending up as low full tosses and that is a big improvement for us,” he said.
“Also in the middle overs, the two spinners and Raina, is a big positive,” Dhoni said.
On his batsmen’s consistent performance, Dhoni said, “Rohit (Sharma) and Skikhar (Dhawan) gave a very good start, Virat has been as consistent as ever, and we have finished well with the lower-order.”
Man-of-the-Match, Shikhar Dhawan, who hit 119, said he was comfortable with the track, as he played on such kind of wickets in Delhi.
“We usually play on these kinds of tracks in Delhi and I am used to playing on them. I knew there would not be much bounce and the drives were on. Happy with my form, the team is doing great,” he said.
“This year has been great and I hope to continue to play like this. In the previous two ODIs also, I was playing well but got out. So I wanted to score big today,” Dhawan said.
“We have scored a lot of runs...all the batsmen and that is why we are ODI number one side now. But the real challenge will begin with the South Africa tour. It’s a challenge but this team likes challenges. I think we are good enough to stand up to it and we won’t disappoint our fans,” said Man-of-the-Series Kohli.
West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo felt his team was short by 20 runs but said they have fought well in the series and can hold their heads high.
“We did very well (with the bat), Darren Sammy played a fantastic innings, can’t forget the innings of Marlon Samuels.
We lost a few wickets at crucial times. (Lendl) Simmons and I got out at crucial times, we could have capitalised better,” he said.
“So we were short by some 20 runs. Chasing 280 instead of 260 could have been a different ball game.”
“We should have given a better bowling effort. But overall it was a very good performance by the team. Defeating India in India has been very difficult and we gave the number one ODI team a close fight. Our players can hold their heads high,” Bravo added.
