“But credit where it’s due. They batted phenomenally well and also Shai Hope, brilliant performance by him, the way he was cruising through in the series. It was difficult at times but kudos to him.”

“We were very close. It’s something that we haven’t done in so many years. To get this far in the series, give ourselves a good chance, it obviously shows what we’re doing as a unit,” Hope said. “We’re certainly progressing. The success doesn’t necessarily have to be series wins. But to see the way all the guys have been progressing as a team is very commendable.”

Hope, named the Player of the Series, was the big star from West Indies’ point of view, getting all those runs in the T20Is after hitting 278 runs in three innings, including an unbeaten 162 in 143 in West Indies’ only win in the preceding ODI series.

“You still have to have that self-belief. Honestly, whenever I cross the line, even if I haven’t got any runs in the last two, three, four, five innings, I still believe that I can get the job done,” he said. “I think that’s what kind of keeps me going, keeps me grounded as well, knowing that even if I do score a hundred or I get a big score, in the next game I still have to start from scratch.

“So my process never changes. I try to stay as neutral as I possibly can. I just back my ability to get the job done because I prepare, I think, well enough. So just allow that to happen and hopefully when the execution comes, it goes in my favour.”

“I know what must be going on in his mind, especially after a phenomenal IPL season. But you have to wait sometimes and we’ve got two fantastic openers who have been consistent throughout”

Shreyas Iyer on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

He was, however, happy to spread the praise around.

“We talk about guys executing their skills in pressure situations. We saw Shamar [Joesph] coming in and playing that crucial role for us in the back end, getting some good wickets, bowling those death overs. Keemo Paul, similarly,” Hope said. “And then you have Roston Chase, who has been consistent for us with the ball for so many years.

“Everyone was chipping in at certain stages: Sherfane continuing to do what he does in the T20 format. Like I said, it’s very pleasing from the bowling side of things to see the guys executing.”

For Iyer, while it might feel like a series lost even though it wasn’t, there were positives.

“I think the ability to bounce back even after a loss,” Iyer said when asked what the big plus was. “We had this mindset that we want to play aggressive cricket and see to it that we are at the top of our game. We replicated it in some instances but we weren’t able to repeat it and be consistent throughout. But it’s a great learning and a lot of positives as well.

“Even today, the way we went about our batting [India scored 118 for 5 in 7.4 overs in what was a nine-overs-a-side game], it was outstanding. I hope that we keep repeating well and it is going to be a challenging series in New Zealand now.”

“I just keep telling him, you’ll get your opportunity. There are two batters [Samson and Abhishek] who have won the [T20] World Cup for you and they have been consistent with the run-scoring as well,” Iyer said. “So if you are consistent with your processes and your mindset is a bit light – not think too much about getting an opportunity right now.

“I know what must be going on in his mind, especially after a phenomenal IPL season. But you have to wait sometimes and we’ve got two fantastic openers who have been consistent throughout.”