Hardik Pandya’s statement in Hindi after 5th T20: Blaming himself for the defeat in the fifth and final T20I against the West Indies, Indian captain Hardik Pandya admitted that his slow batting proved to be the turning point as the team lost momentum in the last 10 overs.
West Indies won the match by eight wickets and won the series 3-2. This is the first time under Pandya’s leadership that India have lost a bilateral series in the T20 format.
Hardik Pandya scored 14 runs off 18 balls. He said after the match, “We didn’t do well in the last 10 overs. When I came out to bat, I took time to settle and then didn’t last till the end. I didn’t take advantage.”
Pandya defended his decision to bat first on a slow pitch. “I believe as a team we should challenge ourselves. We learn from these matches. Ultimately a series here or there doesn’t matter but commitment to the goal is important,” he added.
Pandya further said, “We have to play in the ODI World Cup now and it is good to lose at times. You learn a lot from it. Our players showed character. Winning and losing are a part of the game and we are going to make sure that that we may learn from it.”
The Indian captain praised young batsmen Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Verma. He said, “They (Jaiswal and Tilak) showed character which is very important in international cricket. There is a lot of belief in every young player. It is something that I often see. They did their job well. I Happy with his performance.”
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