‘Season of a lifetime’ – Ravi Shastri praises Team India for dominating show against England
Indian team head coach Ravi Shastri was delighted with the Men in Blue after their 2-1 win over England in the three-match ODI series. After winning the first game by 66 runs, Virat Kohli and co slumped to a defeat in the second ODI by six wickets at the MCA Stadium in Pune. However, the hosts came back to win the third game by seven runs and sealed the series.
After being put in to bat first, India managed 329 runs and were bowled out 10 balls short of their 50 overs. Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya scored half-centuries to guide their team to a respectable score. For the Brits, a number of their batters got starts, but apart from Sam Curran, no one could go on and get a massive score under their belt.
Shastri full of praise
Shastri was over the moon after India beat two heavyweights – England as well as Australia in the last four months or so. He took to Twitter to congratulate Virat Kohli’s men.
Congratulations Guys for holding up and having a season of a lifetime in toughest of times across all formats and hemispheres against 2 of the best teams in the world. Take a bow ???? #TeamIndia #INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/8UnGPZfMY4
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) March 28, 2021
Virat, in the post-match presentation ceremony, was relieved after the close contest on Sunday night. The 32-year-old also had words of praises for Curran, who stayed unbeaten on an 83-ball 95 with nine fours and three sixes.
Kohli lauded T Natarajan for holding his nerves in the final overs. He also had the backs of the ones, who dropped a few catches in the outfield.
“When the top-two battle each other, we’ll get exciting games. No one will throw in the towel, and Sam played a really good inning to keep them in the hunt. However, our bowlers picked up wickets, and it moved from us finishing it off to them getting over the line before Hardik and Nattu pulled it back,” Kohli said after the game.
“It’s most disappointing for the guy who drops the catch, but as much as you get disappointed, catches get put down and sometimes they cost you. There’s no lack of intent, and our body language was outstanding. Eventually, we got over the line,” he added.