Kudos to West Indies. After some jitters a few months back, the coach-captain pair of Daren Sammy and Rovman Powell have given the people there some reasons to smile. Probably, it could be a bit of a party for them before the feast gets kicked off in the Island nation with the Caribbean Premier League slating from Aug 17 (East Asia).
On the flip side, some learnings for Team India who were without a lot of their regular players. This is the first loss in series under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. Debuts for Tilak Varma, Mukesh Kumar, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, and a lot more positives too for the Men in Blue. They'll take notes and try to come back stronger in their next assignments.
So, that puts a full stop to this amazing series of India touring the Western part of the World around the Caribbean nations and the USA. After India triumph in the Test and ODI series, West Indies turn the tables with a 3-2 series win in T20I format.
This was your guy, Arijit Kundu joined hands with co-commentators AkshayaKrishna Polya, Probuddha Bhattacharjee, and scorer/analyst Raju Khariya. A long day in the office for us, thanks to the rain (sarcastic 🌚). Stick to our network for some more cricketing action happening around. Cheers!!
This is the first time that India have lost a five-match T20I series. West Indies have breached it.
12:54 AM IST, 3:24 PM Local Time: President of Cricket West Indies, Mr. Kishore Shallow provides the trophy to Rovman Powell who helds it and offers it to Romario Shepherd who is amidst the huddle behind the Champions banner. Brandon King and Shepherd jontly hold it and the clicks are being taken now. What a moment for Cricket West Indies!!
Rovman Powell (West Indies Captain): "You know it's really difficult to put them in words. The adjectives will fall apart and you don't have much of words to explain this. A series win against a team such as India is a big thing for us.
We sat down at the night after the loss and had a meeting, about what to change and how to move ahead. It has come good for us. We are not playing for individual success or to bring smiles to individual faces. It's about playing as a team and getting success together alongside bringing smiles to the faces of the fans.
The management, Daren Sammy, the coach and I, sat down for a meeting as I said earlier how to get better and so on. We could have been easily panicked after yesterday's loss. I am big on individual performances and when individuals do well it helps the team.
Nicholas Pooran is a big performer. We have asked him to stand up. We know it's not easy for a guy to score in all five games but at least the scores in three matches give you a few wins.
Credit has to be given to the bowling unit as well for trying to control such a powerful Indian team. Credit also to the fans for supporting us even when the chips were down. Not just physically but on social media as well. It shows how cricket is a driving force and if we can keep using it as an added motivation to put smiles on Caribbean faces. Thanks for the support.
Hehe, I leave that (on playing the guitar) to him (Pooran)."
Hardik Pandya (India Captain): "Aeeeh, If you see we lost that period post the ten overs. I came there, took my time, and was not able to capitalize. I think the boys played well but I failed to play accordingly at that point in time.
All these games are the games where you are going to challenge ourselves. In the hindsight, one series here and there is fine. It is a longer process which I don't need to explain much. The boys are trying to commit themselves well and I think that is going well.
I mean it's a long way now [the T20 World CUp 2024]. The next is the ODI world cup. Losing is good sometimes. It teaches you a lot of things. It does not cover up the messes.
Special mentions to all the boys. When we were two down, they came up, showed a long character. Winning and losing is a part of the process. We will make sure to keep it simple.
It is what I believe at that moment[on making sudden changes]. I don't plan a lot at that time. If I feel that it is what I feel at that point in the game. It is not rocket science and I try to go with my gut feeling.
They[Tilak Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal] got heart and that is what is very important. Every youngster who are coming and showing character, the belief, which I see these times, I think kudos to them. As a captain, I can't be more happy that the youngsters coming in and telling me we got you.
Ah, big thank you to everyone. Coming out and giving us so much support is a lot to us. Keep supporting us, see you next time. [Says in Gujarati as there are a lot of Gujarati supporters in Florida today]."
Most sixes: Nicholas Pooran (11 sixes in the series)
Player of the series: Nicholas Pooran (Rovman Powell receives the award as Pooran has rushed to catch a flight).
Romario Shepherd: "You know, it makes me feel really happy. Happy to be ending on the winners' side. Thanks especially to King and Pooran to get us over the line and make me get this reward.
Over the series, I have played ODIs and T20Is, so far this is the best I have played. I have been bowling well. I just kept it simple, hit the deck hard and aimed the off-stump.
It meant a lot to us. Especially because we've been going through some hard times in the past couple of months so to win against a team like India means a lot for us and the fans."