Jasprit Bumrah Man of the Match
Jasprit Bumrah: Feeling very good. The match got close at one point but we had the belief that if we can squeeze in one or two good overs, the match can get close. It was windy, I was trying to use the wind and the longer side of the boundary. Very happy with the learnings, different ground dimensions, first time in New Zealand; great result.
Virat Kohli Series-winning skipper: All of us are really proud of the way we’ve played this series. I think the conversation we had was to always look to find ways to win. When it comes out, it feels nice. You don’t want to see what happened to Rohit, but there were all these young guys playing well and handling the pressure. That gives me a lot of pleasure watching from the outside and they will take this momentum going forward for many years. Basically it is all about laying the vision in front of the boys, the way you think, prepare. The guys are taking notice of it and they realize that the team needs 120% from them every time. Because only then you will find ways to win. That has been a massive change for us in the last two-three years. We have seen the results; we obviously won’t win everything and these victories give a lot more pleasure than the one-sided victories. Kane and I have similar mindsets, similar philosophies. It is amazing that despite being from different parts of the world, we have similar thinkings and we speak the same language. Despite what the scoreline suggests, I feel that New Zealand cricket is in the best hands and he is the right guy to lead this team. He is the perfect, perfect man to lead them and I wish the best of luck and power to lead this side in the future. They are a side everyone loves to watch and play against.
KL Rahul | Man of Series: Yea, I am pleased. It is great to be standing here winning 5-0. Very happy that my performances could result in victories for India. We were happy to come into this series with confidence and to keep executing our skills every game. We came up with answers from every situation and it is a great result for me and the side. I am batting really well now and I am happy to do the roles I am doing for my side. Not thinking too much about the T20 World Cup at the moment, but hopefully, I can continue batting this way. I think it is a winning habit that we have cultivated wherein we want to win every time we step onto the ground. As a team, we keep believing in each other. It is unfortunate what happened with Rohit, but hopefully, he’ll be fine in a couple of days. Leading up to the World Cup, there were a few strategies that we wanted to try out. It just keeps giving us more and more confidence to keep going around. We’ll relax a little bit over the next couple of days and enjoy the victory. But once we start with the next series, the process will remain the same. We want to win games of cricket every time we go out. The kind of cricket we are playing is fun to watch and we hope to keep repeating this.
Tim Southee: It’s another close one, unfortunately on the wrong side again. If you give them a sniff, they take it with both hands. I don’t think it is a massive gap, the scoreline does suggest that, but we only need to do the smaller things better. The ODIs are a different format, new personnel comes in and it is a format where we have done well.
Clean sweeps for India away from home (3+ Series)
3-0 v Australia in AUS 2015/16
3-0 v West Indies in USA/WI 2019
5-0 v New Zealand in NZ 2020
