Though his unbeaten century wasn’t enough to get India over the line in the 1st T20 at Florida but KL Rahul said that his team’s fighting spirit till the last ball of the match in what could have been a world record chase was a huge positive to draw from the 1st T20I against West Indies.
Rahul scored a scintillating century in 46 balls and remained unbeaten on 110. His innings was decorated with 12 fours and 5 gigantic sixes. Sunil Narine came for special treatment as Rahul smashed him all over the park and the experienced spinner finished with the most expensive figures in his T20I career.
“It is very disappointing to be on the losing side but what’s good to see is that we did not give up half way through,” Rahul said after India fell tantalizingly close to the West Indies total and lost the match by a solitary run.
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“The West Indies had put up a big total for us to chase and what we spoke in the dressing room was to try to take the game as long as we could and the way everyone came and approached this inning was very good to see,” he added.
Speaking about his partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the duo’s failure to get India past the finishing line despite needing just 8 runs in the last over, Rahul said it was very disappointing.
“As soon as he came in, I knew that he will make me run a lot. I was already tired by the time he came, but he kept on pushing me and like I said we just kept things simple out there in the middle. We required 13 runs an over,” The Karnataka lad said.
“He said that even if we get 11-12 runs till the sixteenth over, it was ok and we could go big in the last couple of overs. We were favouring one end and hit sixes on that side and we knew that they did not have overs left from their main bowlers in the death.
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“That was the plan and we just kept hitting well, kept connecting. We got 11-12 runs easily in an over. Just unfortunate it was one of those days when the game could’ve gone anywhere,” he added.
India faces West Indies in the 2nd T20I on Sunday and will look to put the heartbreaking loss behind them and concentrate on the job in hand.
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