Kolkata : On a high after bagging the Man of the Match award in the One-Day game against Sri Lanka with an unconquered 150, opening bat Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said this was the first time he had finished off a game for India.
"This is the first time I have finished off the game for India. Once I got into the middle, I wanted to play a big innings and finish it. Luckily I was the one who finished it," said Gambhir.
On his 224-run third wicket stand with Virat Kohli, that propelled India to a seven-wicket victory at the Eden Gardens, Gambhir said "it was a very important partnership. We were chasing 315. it's always good to have a partnership in such situations".
In a nice gesture, Gambhir called Kohli after being declared Man of the Match at the prize distribution ceremony. "Gambhir wants to share the award with Kolhi," Shastri announced to cheers from the crowd.
Kohli said he played his natural game. "I am happy that the team won. I was never under any pressure," he said after scoring his maiden century.
"Our partnership was crucial. We complemented each other," he said.
Stand-in captain Virender Sehwag praised Kohli and other youngsters in the team and said he was happy to finish the series in Kolkata.
Bench strength
"This team has lot of bench strength. We did not have Yuvraj Singh and M.S. Dhoni in the team. It's a good sign for India that the youngsters are playing well. Virat Kohli proved his worth," he said later.
"We wanted to finish the game in Kolkata because here we had a good wicket to bat on. We don't know what kind of wicket we will get in Delhi," Sehwag said after clinching the five-match series.
He added that faced with such a huge total, the Indians did not want to lose wickets. "Our thinking was we should not lose wickets in the first ten overs. We had beaten Pakistan earlier at the Eden after putting up a big total. We knew the dew factor becomes important as the evening progresses. Them bowlers cannot spin or swing the ball. They have problems in gripping also".
"So we thought if we do not lose early wickets, we can finish off the game. We lost two, but then Kohli and Gambhir finished it off".
Sehwag said the flowering of players like Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jdeja augured well for India ahead of the 2011 World Cup. "If we play at full strength we can win also in 2011".
Sri Lanka:
Upul Tharanga b Khan 118
Tillakaratne Dilshan c Kohli b Nehra 9
Sanath Jayasuriya c Tendulkar b Khan 15
Sangakkara st Karthik b Harbhajan 60
Mahela Jayawardene run out 33
Thisara Perera c Jadeja b Nehra 31
Thilina Kandamby not out 23
Thilan Samaraweera not out 13
Extras (lb 3, w 10) 13
Total (for six wickets in 50 overs) 315
Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Dilshan, 7.6 overs), 2-72 (Jayasuriya, 12.5), 3-198 (Sangakkara, 36.3), 4-234 (Tharanga, 42.1), 5-271 (Perera, 45.1), 6-287 (Jayawardene, 47.2 overs).
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 10 0 49 2; Nehra 9 1 68 2; Ishant Sharma 7 0 67 0; Harbhajan 10 0 53 1; Jadeja 9 1 51 0; Sehwag 3 0 15 0; Raina 2 0 9 0.
India:
Virender Sehwag c Dilshan b Lakmal 10
Sachin Tendulkar c Randiv b Lakmal 8
Gautam Gambhir not out 150
Kohli c sub (Pushpakumara) b Randiv 107
Dinesh Karthik not out 19
Extras (lb 5, w 16, nb 2) 23
Total (for three wickets in 48.1 overs) 317
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Sehwag, 1.4 overs), 2-23 (Tendulkar, 3.4), 3-247 (Kohli, 39.2)
Bowling: Perera 9 0 66 0; Lakmal 10 0 55 2; Malinga 9.1 0 75 0; Randiv 10 0 57 1; Jayasuriya 7 0 42 0; Dilshan 3 0 17 0.
