Captain Rohit Sharma was indeed a relieved man as India won their first ODI series under his captaincy, stretched their impressive home record and also secured some important World Cup Super League points after beating the West Indies by 44 runs in the second and penultimate ODI in Ahmedabad.

India now have more reasons to cheer for as Shikhar Dhawan, who had practised on Tuesday after recovering from Covid-19, is set to be available for the third and final ODI on Friday. The senior pro, most likely to open alongside Rohit, is in need of some game time, the skipper said.

“We will get Shikhar back in the next game. He needs some game time,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.

Rohit did acknowledge the performance of his team’s bowlers, particularly that of Man of the Match Prasidh Krishna (4/12), without which India could well have lost. The 238-run target was not at all daunting, irrespective of a little bit of assistance for quicks on the Motera pitch. But he also made a special mention of Suryakumar Yadav, who adjusted really well according to the situation and focused on treating the ball on its merit to top-score with 64 apart from forging a crucial 91-run stand with KL Rahul, after India were left wobbling at 43/3 in 12 overs.

“This knock will give Surya a lot of confidence. The pitch was not easy, so he batted and did what the team wanted him to do, and not what he wants to do,” Rohit emphasised.

Prasidh, on his part, said he was striving to put in such a performance for quite some time. “Even when I went in to bat, the ball was still seaming. So I knew there was something in it for me when we bowled.

“I wanted to keep it tight, simple and let the ball do the talking,” the pacer said.