India’s stand-in captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in the fifth One Day International by 8 wickets to complete a clean sweep in the five-match series.
Gambhir applauded the professionalism of his side and said that even in the absence of senior players the seemingly young side displayed an all-round performance.
“It’s a good thing that there is healthy competition and that can bring the best out of any player. You can never afford to be complacent at any stage because you know there is another one waiting in the wings,” Gambhir said about the reserve players in
the India side especially after they were exposed to first class cricket in the Indian Premier League.
The Kiwis were bowled out just in 27 overs for a shabby 103 runs. Even though the Kiwis were successful in dismissing the top order of Indian team, wicketkeeper batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parthiv-Patel-c2159 and the only senior player Yuvraj Singh shared an unbeaten third wicket
stand of 97 runs which saw India taking away the series in 30 overs.
Gambhir, who has been leading the side in the absence of permanent captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 side, excited to play the series
and everyone wanted to contribute.”
He especially praised off-spinner http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228 as he led the bowlers with 11 wickets in the ODI series. The skipper said, “Ashwin for sure was most impressive. He is a quality bowler as we saw in the IPL.”
He also hailed Yusuf Pathan and said that he has immense potential to climb up the batting order. Yusuf had his first ODI century as he drove India to a victory in the fourth ODI as the Black Caps had set a stiff target of 316.
However, the Man of the Series cautioned the team that they could expect tough times in the World Cup 2011 which is scheduled to begin from 19 February in the sub-continent. He said that there would be great expectations from the senior and young players
and the team in general as they would need to “sustain their current position.”
Gambhir stressed that his side needs to work on their fielding and this would be something the team and the coaches would be working on before the bid to win the coveted title next year.
The latest series clean sweep came hot on heels when New Zealand slumped to another series whitewash against minnows, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 earlier in October. This seems as an ominous sign for the Kiwis as the World Cup is just around the corner and they have been
defeated by a second-string squad of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
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