- By Vishal Pushkar
- Sun, 13 Aug 2023 11:04 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
With India making a comeback with back to back wins, captain Hardik Pandya was pleased with the effort by the youngsters ahead of the fifth and final T20I on Sunday. Pandya also called upon his batsmen to take more responsibility and support their bowlers in future
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill showed the way in Saturday's series-levelling Twenty20 win over the West Indies in Florida.
Chasing 179 to level the five-match series at 2-2 after superb knocks by Shai Hope (45) and Shimron Hetmyer (61) lifted the West Indies, India cruised home in Lauderhill with three overs to spare, losing only one wicket along the way.
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The impressive Jaiswal was unbeaten on 84 off 51 balls after smashing 11 fours and three sixes, while Gill was equally fluent during his 77 off 47 balls before being dismissed by Romario Shepherd in the 16th over.
"Gill and Jaiswal were brilliant," said Pandya, who is leading an India side in the absence of several frontline players. "There's no doubt over their skill set.
"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."
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Pandya said he was happy to see his team displaying resistance after losing the opening two matches of the series.
"The (last) two games we played reflected that we pulled up our socks and made sure to play good cricket," Pandya said.
"In T20 cricket no one is a favourite. You have to turn up and play good cricket. You have to respect the opposition. They were 2-0 up because they played better cricket than us.
"Tomorrow (Sunday), we have to turn up and do exactly what we did today."