Pandya lavishes praise on Rohit, Rahane

Hardik Pandya, who produced a brilliant all-round performance to power India to a series-clinching 3-0 win over Australia, lavished praise on openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane for setting the match up nicely.

Chasing a challenging 294 for victory, Rohit and Rahane got India off to a rollicking start, hammering half-centuries each and sharing a 139-run stand to lay a strong foundation. “They were the ones who set the proper platform for us to go and express ourselves. And the shots which they played were outstanding. It's a treat to watch them play and score runs. Many people have said it in the past and I am again saying it again today. It's a treat to watch them play,” said Pandya, who bagged the man of the match award.

On his own performance where he scored a match-winning 78 and picked up the crucial wicket of David Warner in a good show of 1/58, Pandya said he had to bowl smartly on a batting friendly wicket. “I was just trying to bowl fast off-cutters. It actually nipped (in case of Warner's wicket). It actually gripped the pitch and moved. I got to know that when I bowled a slower ball to him earlier. The wicket was too dry and I had to do something different. Can't just bowl seam up and get whacked. So I just assessed the conditions pretty well and that's why eventually I got the wicket.”

Australia skipper Steve Smith blamed the defeat on poor execution at the death where they faltered miserably to settle for 293 after appearing to set a target in the vicinity of 350. “I probably thought our 38 overs with the bat was very good. That was kind of the template we were trying to set. Two guys in the top four going on (to make a big score). One guy get a hundred obviously, sort of the others bat around. Our first 38 overs were very good. We just weren't able to execute it in the back end,” said a downcast Smith.

“I think that was probably (reason for defeat). We got 69 off last 74 balls, lost 5 wickets. If we got to 330-340, which we probably should have done, things certainly could have been different. When you have got so many wickets in the shed against the team with quality of batters India have, (it’s disappointing effort).”