The only Indian batsman to get a chance to shine in the lop-sided ODI series against Zimbabwe, opener Lokesh Rahul today said he always knew he had the ability to do well in every format.
The 24-year-old from Karnataka, who amassed 196 runs in the series from three innings which included an unbeaten century and a half-century, was adjudged the Player of the Match and the Man of the series.
"I always knew I had the game to do well in every format. It was just a matter of time. The last couple of months have been really good," said Rahul, who cracked an unbeaten 63 off 70 balls today to guide India to a 3-0 whitewash of Zimbabwe.
"I got the opportunity to play for RCB and then getting a call up to play for India has always been a dream. And then to come out here and perform the way I have is really pleasing. I'm very satisfied," he said.
Rahul gave credit to the bowlers, who came up with a stupendous performance in the series.
"Lot of credit goes to our bowlers for making our job easy. I knew I could go out there, take my time and play proper cricketing shots and not get carried away," he said.
"Obviously after getting the hundred and when you are in good form, it is easy to go out there and try to hit sixes and finish the game early. So it was a challenge for me to remain calm and play my natural game and give the ball and the bowlers the respect. That was the plan for me and I am happy the way I batted in this series," he added.
Rahul is the only player in the side, who will be touring West Indies along with India's Test squad next month but Rahul said he is not thinking about it now.
Asked if it would be easy to switch to the Test mode, Rahul said:"I don't know, once I go there and see the red ball swinging, I will know. Obviously playing here, the ball is swinging a bit but it is not like the red ball. I am not thinking about West Indies West Indies yet.
"What's on my mind right now is to switch to the T20 format, to prepare for the next two days and come out all guns blazing," he said.
Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer said failure to rotate the strikes by the batsmen affected his team's chances of posting a good total on board.
"We didn't see through the new ball to put up 260-270 which we thought was par. We got stuck in middle period, and then lost grip. We just couldn't rotate strike, and that put pressure on our batsmen," he said.
"We have a T20I squad, and we know we can challenge good teams on our day. We'll have to pick ourselves up to try and compete in that series."
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who took six wickets in the series, said: "There was a bit of pressure initially, but things settled down after that. The wickets were a touch slow, and the outfield was big, so that helped.
(REOPENS DEL 52)
Kohli had some sympathy for the bowlers who were blasted for 350 runs.
"The wicket was very placid so it was just a case of the bowlers trying their best. We bowled really well in the initial phases, but in the end they countered us really well. A case in point is that we could chase down the target even after being four down for 60."
Kedar on his part said:"It is a great feeling that I could win a game for my country, that too at my home ground. My mom, dad, my wife, my daughter are here. I could play this long because the captain Kohli has shown us how to chase big totals. I have already missed many chances with the batting. I have also missed chances to bat with Virat and watch him closely. It's tough to run with Virat, but I will get better."
A distraught Eoin Morgan said:"We did have the runs"
Asked about the pitch, Morgan said:"That's why we wanted to bowl first. Small ground, conditions are pretty tough for the bowlers. You think you are in the game, especially having them 60 for 4. It is tough to take, but credit to them. They didn't give us any chances. We didn't play at our best today. We think we were in the game for most of it. So all is not lost.
"We were at a tricky period between overs 35 and 45 where we were looking to get momentum into the business end. Credit to India for taking Jos's wicket. We would have liked to kickstart that charge earlier.
