India’s captain Rohit Sharma complimented Shardul Thakur after his team defeated New Zealand in the one-day international series by a score of 3-0 and stated that his colleagues refer to him as a “magician” because he consistently provides meaningful contributions with the bat and the ball. In the third and final ODI of the series on Tuesday at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore, India defeated New Zealand by 90 runs thanks to centuries from openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and three-wicket hauls from Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav.
Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, and Glenn Phillips were all taken out by Shardul, who also gave up 45 runs in 6 overs. “We bowled pretty well, stuck to our plans, and held our nerve. Shardul has been doing it for a while. Teammates call him a magician and he came and delivered yet again. He just needs to get more games under his belt,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
India won the opening ODI, a high-scoring thriller in Hyderabad, by 12 runs, and their seamers also helped them win the second match, an eight-wicket victory at Raipur. “I thought in the last six games we played, we did most parts right and that is the key in 50-over games. We were consistent too. Without Siraj and Shami I knew we wanted to give chances to people on the bench. We wanted to get Chahal and Umran in the mix. We wanted to see how they react under pressure. I know we had the runs on the board, but I don’t think any score is safe here,” the India captain added.
