Rohit-Sharma and Tim Southee
Rohit-Sharma and Tim Southee (Credits: BCCI)

Indian T20I skipper Rohit Sharma was ecstatic after he led his side to a 3-0 whitewash over New Zealand in the T20I series that concluded on Sunday. India beat the Kiwis in the final game by 73 runs to complete the whitewash.

Rohit scored his 30th fifty in T20Is, becoming the batter with the most number of fifties. On the back of his knock, India put up 184 on the board before the bowlers put up a splendid display to restrict the Kiwis to 111. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit said:

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.

Harshal Patel
Harshal Patel with Rohit Sharma and Venkatesh Iyer. Credits BCCI

The batting front – KL 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 Ashwin bowled, Axar. And how Chahal came back. Good to see Venkatesh Iyer bowling those overs with the skills he has.

Rohit also mentioned that it has become quite important to have bowlers who can bat in the death overs.

Read More  'No awkwardness' - Hardik Pandya breaks silence on relationship with Rohit Sharma after becoming MI captain
Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma. (Photo: Twitter)

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, we’ve seen what he did in SL. Chahal was looking forward to bat as well,” he added.

“Once I started opening, a lot of things changed” – Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma went on to talk about the change in the batting order that helped him grow as a batsman. Rohit was bumped to the top of the order after being a middle-order batsman for a while.

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma. Credits: BCCI

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 comes naturally. I’ve practiced a lot playing those shots. Some days it comes off very well but I’ve got out also playing that shot. That’s why I say when you’ve got a certain strength, you’ve got to back it,” Rohit concluded.

With the win, India has now won their last 8 out of 9 games against the Kiwis. The teams now move on to play the 2-match Test series starting in Kanpur on November 25.

Also Read – Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes’ Bowling Will Be England’s Secret In Ashes: Sir Ian Botham

Read More  Watch Virat Kohli's entrance in RCB camp gives goosebumps as Bangalore based franchise release the video