India have lost the ODI series against New Zealand by 0-3 but leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal said on Tuesday said that this was not a major concern for them as India have been doing so good in this format for the last five years. After having faced a series whitewash by 5-0 in the T20I series, Kiwis bounced back beautifully and handed India a clean sweep in ODIs.
“Overall, if you see it is just the fourth or fifth series loss in the last 4-5 years. The other team is also here to play. You cannot win every match. We have won one series, lost the other, so it is not something too serious to ponder over,” Chahal said at the post-match press conference.
He further said that the youngsters will learn a lot from the series. India didn’t get the service of its key openers – Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. Both have been injured and India played with two new openers – Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal in the playing XI.
“Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal came into the side, so youngsters got to play outside India. It is not easy to play in New Zealand. But overall if we see, it is just an ODI series. We did win the T20 series 5-0, first time, that’s a positive for us as well,” added Yuzvendra Chahal.
However, KL Rahul has once again shown his calibre and scored his fourth ODI hundred while Shreyas Iyer also scored a fifty to propel India to 296-7 alongside a handy contribution from Manish Pandey. Chahal appreciated their efforts on the field.
“You can see the confidence in them. They are 25-26 years old and batting with maturity. They understand the situation well. It is not easy to bat in the middle overs especially when the spinners are bowling. Rahul has also batted up the order at times. So, it shows the maturity that he knows what the team needs,” he said.
Yuzvendra Chahal, however, praised the hosts but also pointed out that fielding is a big concern for India.
“They have played quite extraordinarily in this series. So we need to appreciate that. Poor fielding happens at times. Once in 10 series it happens, we have time until the next ODI series. We have seen what are the shortcomings and we have enough time to work on it before the next series,” he shared.
Moreover, he revealed why he and Kuldeep Yadav are not getting matches together since the World Cup.
“Ravindra Jadeja is playing extraordinarily well, whether it is batting or bowling or fielding. So, I play half the matches and Kuldeep plays half the matches. Main motive is to do what is best for the team. In Asia Cup all three of us have played together as well. If wickets allow that, maybe all of us will play together again,” added the leggie.
He took 3 wickets for 47 runs in his ten overs which included in-form opener, Martin Guptill.
“Guptill dismissal was one of my best deliveries. Before that, I was getting a lot of drift as well and hit their pads. I came from an angle. I didn’t know it would turn so much but I was bowling in my strong areas. Short spell was part of our plan. Jadeja also has to bowl and we are only two spinners. So our effort is to take the wickets and when I got it, the idea was to save 2-3 overs for the end and make chances for taking wickets,” he explained.
Yuzvendra Chahal also said playing eight limited-overs matches in a span of 22 days after a home season was not the reason behind their defeat.
“The main exertion happened in T20s. We didn’t care much about jetlag etc., and got on the park to play. We gave 100 per cent in every game. We are professional cricketers so we didn’t think much about it,” Yuzvendra Chahal concluded.
