West Indies head coach Phil Simmons picked Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj as the deciding factors of the three-match ODI series which India won 3-0. Gill, who unfortunately was stranded at 98 when rain forced an early end to India's innings in the third ODI on Wednesday, ended up as the highest run-getter of the series with 205 runs to his name at an average and a strike rate of 102.5 each. Siraj on the other hand picked up four wickets in the series but was instrumental in closing the first ODI by bowling a brilliant last over and also claiming two wickets in his first over in the third ODI.
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"One thing? there are two. Batting of Shubman Gill and the bowling of Mohammed Siraj. Siraj was excellent in closing out the first game in the last over. He was good with the new ball today. Shardul Thakur was also good. I think their bowling stood out more than ours," Simmons said in the post-match press conference in Trinidad after India won the third ODI by 119 runs via DLS method.
Gill scored 98 off 98 balls with seven fours and two sixes when the skies opened up for the second time forcing the umpires to put an end to India's innings in 36 overs. West Indies were given a revised target of 257 in 35 overs but India bowled them out for 137 in 26 overs.
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{{/usCountry}}"It (rain) did play a part but it was the same for both the teams. We can't use that as an excuse that the rain disturbed us. I think we lost too many wickets in the chase. We were on target there with 10 overs left but we just lost too many wickets," Simmons said.
West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran said that he is looking forward to the upcoming T20I series starting on July 29. "It was a tough one for us. We did a lot of right things in the first two games. I think we tried up our best, the boys performed well. But there were a lot of games in a short span of time. As a batting group, it was going to be a challenge with DLS coming into play. We did get some partnerships, but not as many as we wanted, that cost us the game," said Pooran in a post-match presentation.
"We gained a lot in this series after coming from Guyana. The bowlers bowled well in the powerplay, they didn't get wickets, but that's fine. The guys are getting more confident with every game. Very excited with our T20 team, looking forward to the game on Friday," he added.