Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 12 : Following his side's 142-run win over England in the third ODI, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that his team will continue playing its fearless, free-flowing brand of cricket with freedom that they started during the 50-over World Cup at home in 2023.
India registered its first ODI series win under Gautam Gambhir as head coach, bundling out England for another poor score during a defence of 357 runs at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday.
Speaking after the match in the post-match show, Rohit said, "Very pleased (with the way the series went). We knew there would be challenges that we could face. I mean, there is nothing I could have done about that (the ball that got rid of him today). Credit to the bowler and the bowler is there to get you out and you are there as a batter to challenge that. Just nicked the ball, second ball I was facing and could not have done anything about that."
"I do not see there was anything wrong we did this series. Obviously there are certain things we are looking at (to improve) and I am not going to stand here and explain those. It is our job as well to keep some consistency within the squad and the communication is clear. Obviously any champion team wants to get better every game and move forward from there. Very happy with the score (at the break). There is a bit of freedom in the squad to go out there and play the way you want. The World Cup was a perfect example of that and we want to continue to do that. There will be times it will not fall in place but that is okay," he added.
Coming to the match, England won the toss and opted to bowl first. Gill's 112, along with half-centuries of Virat Kohli (52 in 55 balls, with seven fours and a six) and Shreyas Iyer (78 in 64 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) and a cameo of 40 in 29 balls (three fours and a six) by KL Rahul, pushed India to 356 in their 50 overs.
Adil Rashid bowled a brilliant spell, taking 4/64 in his ten overs. Mark Wood took 2/45 in his nine overs. Joe Root, Gus Atkinson and Saqib Mahmood got one each.
In the run-chase, England fumbled despite a 60-run opening stand between Ben Duckett (34 in 22 balls, with eight fours) and Phil Salt (23 in 21 balls, with four boundaries) and a 46-run third wicket stand between a returning Tom Banton (38 in 41 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Joe Root (24 in 29 balls, with two fours). England was skittled out for 214 runs in 34.2 overs, lost by 142 runs to register a clean sweep series loss.