Crediting India's second successive Super Over win against New Zealand on Friday to the team's never-say-die attitude, middle order batsman Manish Pandey said they will push for an unprecedented 5-0 series whitewash in the fifth T20 International.
A nervous New Zealand threw it away yet again as a perseverant India prevailed in the Super Over for the second successive time to take a 4-0 lead in the T20I series on Friday. The two sides meet for the final match at Mt. Maunganui on Sunday.
"It has been our motto, not only for these two matches, that till the time the last ball is bowled, we won't give up any match. If you play with that intent you will get matches like these where you might get a Super Over, and you win from there," Pandey said at the post-match conference.
"And now we have an opportunity to make it 5-0 and it will be really amazing to do that. Come the fifth match, we will look to go 5-0 up, that is our plan. Nobody has done it before and especially India has not done it before. So, I think it will be a great start to do that."
"Today was the opportunity and I've been preparing myself as to how to bat at no. 6 and what kind of shots I can play, what kind of bowlers, and how many overs are left. It's not an easy position to bat at no. 6, where you know you are the last main batsman and you have to play with the bowlers if anything happens up the top. That's what happened today. I was pretty clear about my role."
"Today, I had opportunity to bat a little early. Not too much to contribute the last couple of games, but today was my opportunity and I thought if I could use it to my advantage, that will be great for me and my side. Quite happy to be there in this position."
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