Indian captain Rohit Sharma on Tuesday admitted that the four-Test series against Australia starting next month will not be easy but said the hosts are fully prepared to take on the world number one side.
India defeated New Zealand by the same margin after thrashing Sri Lanka 3–0 in the ODI series. He won the third and final match against New Zealand here by 90 runs.
Rohit said after the match, “To be honest, we do not talk too much about the ranking. It is all about winning matches and our approach will be no different when we play a Test match against Australia. It will not be an easy challenge but we are up for it.
He said, “In the last six ODIs, we did well in all departments. We maintained consistency with bat and ball.
India had rested the fast bowling duo of Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami and replaced them with Yuzvendra Chahal and Umran Malik in the playing XI.
Rohit said that despite scoring 385 runs on nine wickets, victory on a batting-friendly wicket could not be taken for granted. The New Zealand team was dismissed for 295 runs in 41.2 overs.
Rohit said, “Without Siraj and Shami, we wanted to give chance to other players. We wanted to keep Chahal and Malik in the team and give them a chance to go through pressure situations. We had scored a good score but you cannot consider any score safe on this ground.
New Zealand captain Tom Latham said that even though they suffered a clean sweep in the series, these three matches were a good learning experience for their young players.
Latham said, “We did not have a good start in bowling but later we did well and stopped them around 380 runs. It may not sound good but this is the truth. After this, in batting, we were dismissed in about 40 overs, which was not good.
He said, “This is our last experience in India before the World Cup and our players got the experience of playing in India in these matches. Hopefully we will get the benefit of this in the World Cup in October.
Shardul Thakur was adjudged man of the match for his brilliant bowling and the pacer said he is always ready to contribute.
He said, “I don’t think too much because we are prepared for every situation whether it is in batting or bowling. In today’s era everyone likes to bat because this game is more about batting.
Shubman Gill, who scored two centuries including a double century in this series, was adjudged Man of the Series. He said that he is satisfied with his performance.
Gill said, “It feels good when you perform well. This is a satisfactory performance. I didn’t change much in my attitude. I just focused on converting good starts into big scores. I play according to the conditions and don’t look at my scores.