For leggie Rahul Sharma, the five-wicket haul that helped India A beat West Indies A by 93 runs in the T20 game here Saturday, was especially satisfying as it also signalled his return to form.
The 26-year old Sharma bamboozled the Caribbean batsmen, but more importantly, his performance came ahead of a busy season.
"I am pleased to return with good performances after the IPL in 2012. It was a tough phase for me and I used to feel bad about it even during this season. But I had the belief that I could come out of it and do well.
"I dedicate this performance to family and friends. The coach and my teammates also helped me throughout this series with a lot of tips and I am thankful to them," said Sharma during the post-match conference.
"The T20 game was expected to be more of a high-intensity contest when compared to the One-day series, so it was important that we won and won by a big margin," he added.
West India 'A' skipper Kieran Powell, after leading his team to a 2-1 win in the just-concluded one-day series, was obvious disappointed by the big defeat in the T20 outing, but felt that chasing 215 was a tough ask, especially in the absence of partnerships.
"Chasing 215 was always going to be tough and we kept losing wickets at quick intervals and that made it tougher.
Also Read
"Catching has been a problem for us, not just today, but throughout the One-day series too. We have become a bit complacent and we will have to brush up our skills ahead of the four-day games.
"Overall, coming to India for the first time and playing against a strong home side, I am satisfied with the performances of my players. There are some areas like bowling and fielding that we have to improve in though," summed up Powell.