India started the Rohit-Dravid era win a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the first T20I at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Wednesday. The Men in Blue chased a 165-run target with two balls to spare and now lead the three-match series 1-0. 

While Suryakumar Yadav’s 62 runs off 40 balls was the highlights of India’s win, skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed his half-century by two runs, praised spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel’s efforts that kept the Kiwis in check in the first innings after they were flying towards a 180-plus total. 

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Martin Guptill (70 off 42) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50) had maintained pace in the middle overs but with India conceding only 41 runs in last five overs, New Zealand were kept at 164 for six on a good batting surface.

Rohit Sharma said the game was a good learning experience for the youngsters trying to make place in the squad. 

“Towards the end we saw it wasn’t easy, was a great learning for the guys because those guys haven’t batted in that situation before for India. It was great learning for them to understand what needs to be done, it’s not about power hitting all the time and you try and put the ball to the left or right of the fielder and try and take singles or find boundaries,” the skipper said.

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“As a team we are happy that those guys got to bat in that situation and finished the game off. Technically was a good game, missing a few players and to come and see what the new players have in terms of ability and I think the way we pulled it back in the last 3-4 overs was magnificent,” he added. 

Praising Ashwin and Axar Patel, he said, “In the end it was a great effort from all our bowlers. They (Ashwin and Axar) bowl in tandem for the Delhi Capitals and they are always looking to take wickets which is a good sign and it’s important to try and put the brakes and those guys do that.”

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Rohit was dismissed by his Mumbai Indians colleague Trent Boult after hitting him for 21 runs in the fifth over. 

 “We (Boult and I) played a lot of cricket together and he knows my weakness and I know his strength, it’s a good fight between the two. When I captain him I always tell him to bluff, and that’s exactly what he did. He put the mid-wicket back and put the fine leg up and I knew he was gonna bowl a bouncer and I was just trying to put it over the fielder but unfortunately there wasn’t much pace on the ball.”