Wanted to break the jinx of batting first and winning in this series: Hardik

Indian bowlers restricted England to 188/8 in their allotted 20 overs to register a 36-run win in the fifth T20I here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.

Ahmedabad: India all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Saturday said that in the T20I series against England the side wanted to try out different things including breaking the jinx of batting first and winning.

Indian bowlers restricted England to 188/8 in their allotted 20 overs to register a 36-run win in the fifth T20I here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.

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With this win in the final T20I, India won the five-match series 3-2. Skipper Virat Kohli and boys displayed a clinical performance in the series decider and England had no answers to what was thrown at them by the hosts.

At one stage, England was on-course for registering a win as Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan put on 130 runs for the second wicket, but as soon as the duo lost their wickets, the visitors lost their way and ended up losing the match.

“I have been working on fine-tuning my action, but at the end of the day, you are thinking of what kind of delivery you want to bowl. It’s slightly difficult but I am coping really well. When I bat I think as a batsman and when I bowl I think as a bowler. Looking at the World Cup, in this series we wanted to try out a few things and also to break the jinx of batting first and winning, feels really great. The wicket allowed us to use more variations and make sure that the batsmen are not getting anything in their zone,” Pandya told the host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation.

Earlier, skipper Kohli’s decision to promote himself as an opener worked wonders in the fifth and final T20I against England as India posted a total of 224/2. Kohli played a knock of 80 runs while Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav played knocks of 64 and 32 respectively as the hosts posted a mammoth total on the board.

However, the telling blow, in the end, came from Pandya as the swashbuckling all-rounder played an innings of 39 runs off just 17 balls.