India vs West Indies: 'I want my players to keep challenging themselves,' says Rohit Sharma

India limited-overs captain Rohit Sharma was convinced with the all-round performance put by his team in clinching a six-wicket victory over the West Indies in the first of three-match One-Day International series on Sunday. India wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets to restrict the visitors to 176 runs after opting to bowl while the captain led from the front and scored a brilliant half-century to set the tone for the chase. The hosts, however, lost the wickets of former India captain Virat Kohli and wicket keeper-batter Rishabh Pant in quick succession in the modest chase.

And Sharma pointed out that even though his team ticked all the boxes in the match, they could have done far better in the chase, by not losing four wickets. 

“I don’t believe in a perfect game. You cannot be perfect. We want to keep getting better. All in all a great effort from everyone. We ticked all boxes. Pretty happy with that,” Sharma said in the post-match interview. 

“With that bat we could’ve finished with not so many wickets, that is one. Could also have created pressure on their lower order. Don’t want to take any credit away. The way we bowled upfront and then towards the back end was good to see. We want to keep getting better as a team. The end goal is we should be able to achieve what the team wants. If the team requires us to do something different, we have to do it. Don’t think we have to change a lot. All I ask from players is to keep challenging themselves,” he added.

READ MORE: How India braved the odds to win U-19 World Cup 

‘Don’t want to be dependent on toss’

Sharma made a resounding comeback after his hamstring injury which saw him undergo rehab at the NCA. He notched up a 51-ball 60 runs innings on return and believes that his confidence before going into the match helped his cause. 

The Mumbai batter, however, doesn’t want to remain too dependent on the toss for the outcome of the match and concentrate on improving the team’s performance. 

“I’ve been off for a while, haven’t played for two months but I was back home hitting the balls. Knew there was a long season ahead. Had a good net session here. I was confident going into this game. Can take a lot of positives from this game,” the India ODI captain said. 

“The pitch had something in it. There was softness in the pitch early on. In this particular game the toss became important. But honestly I want to take the toss away from the play, I don’t want to depend on it a lot. But if you do, you have to take advantage,” he added. 

READ MORE: Rohit Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal steer hosts to comprehensive victory