Shikhar Dhawan returning to form crucial for India ahead of Australia tour: Rohit Sharma

Shikhar Dhawan’s blazing 92 and Rishabh Pant’s aggressive 58 gave India a tense six-wicket win over West Indies in Chennai during the third and final Twenty20 International on Sunday. The win not only helped India whitewash the West Indies 3-0, it gave the team plenty of momentum ahead of the tour to Australia.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma  praised the efforts of Dhawan and Pant, stressing that Dhawan coming back to form was crucial ahead of the series Down Under.

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“It was important from the team's perspective and for the players to get some runs ahead of the important Australia tour. Shikhar especially was batting well in the ODI series but he was not able to get big scores. I am glad that he could play a match-winning knock and get some form under his belt before the crucial tour,” Rohit said.

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Prior to his knock in Chennai, Dhawan had failed to cross fifty in the five ODI series which India won 3-1. He struggled even in the first two games but showed his class in the third match to give India victory. Rohit was also full of praise for Pant, who turned the tide towards India with a blazing 38-ball 58, laced with five fours and three sixes.

“Rishabh was also hungry to go out and get some runs. It was the perfect situation. We were two down inside the first six overs. There was a bit of pressure as well. They handled it well and it was a match-winning partnership. It is important in the team's perspective that both these guys got runs,” Rohit said.

‘Embarrassed’ by loss

On the other hand, West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite admitted that a 3-0 whitewash was “embarrassing” for the two-time World T20 champions.

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“I mean, three-nought looks bad, and it looks embarrassing for me as captain as well. But the performances and fight we gave and the fact that we came together to use our resources to the best of our abilities was the hallmark for this short series for me. The team morale is up. What we are doing as a group is trying to find the best to use the resources we have. In the first game, we showed our fight, we showed our belief with the ball. In the second game, we were blown away, and in the third game we batted excellently, but the game was taken away from us by a massive partnership. We still fought till the end,” Brathwaite said.

Since winning the World T20 in 2016, West Indies have been whitewashed 3-0 three times in Asia, twice to Pakistan and now to India. They even lost to Bangladesh and have tasted defeat in New Zealand, underlining their total weakness across formats.

However, there was one bright spot in the West Indies’ batting in Chennai, with Nicholas Pooran smashing 53 off just 25 balls. Brathwaite hailed the youngster and added the future looked positive for the Windies. “As a team that's what we have -- the ability for players to take the game away from the opposition and play a knock such as that (of Pooran). The challenge for us is to do that on a more consistent basis. We know we have three,four match-winners in the side who can blow the opposition away,” Brathwaite said.