After India claimed victory against the West Indies in the latest game of the 5-match T20 series, the team's captain Hardik Pandya asked his team's batters to show more responsibility towards winning the match and support pacers who've been consistently performing well.
The Men in Blue gave an underwhelming performance in the first two matches but picked up a winning pace in the next two against the Indies. The series is currently tied at 2-2, with the fifth and final game to be the decider on who will clinch victory.
Both India and West Indies, after completing the Caribbean leg, arrived in the United States of America to continue the series where Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill showed their prowess with the bat.
But for Pandya, it was just the start, as he asked his batters to prepare for bigger situations, NDTV reported.
"Gill and Jaiswal were brilliant. There is no doubt over their skillset. They just needed to spend some time between the wickets. Going forward we have to take more responsibility as a batting group and support the bowlers. I've always believed bowlers win matches," the Indian skipper said following the team's victory.
Pandya, who was elated by the effort put in by his boys, said the two games lost earlier were due to the team's errors.
"We were cruising and in the last four overs we slipped. We spoke about how these kinds of games show our character," he said.
The Indian captain added that the Men in Blue took the defeat in their stride.
"The two games (after the first two defeats) we played reflected that we pulled up our socks and played some good cricket,” Pandya added.
Jaiswal knocked an unbeaten 84 runs off 51 balls and was handed over the man of the match title. The left-hander said he "batted as per the team's needs".
Meanwhile, the Windies' captain Rovman Powell said batters must continue with their plans and play the Indian spinners better.
"We didn't stick to our plans. We always knew this series would come down to how we play against spinners (of India)," Powell said.
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