The West Indies won multiple games to secure a bilateral series victory over India for the first time in any format since 2006. Having won the first two T20Is, they looked well on their way to achieving a historic landmark early into the series, but India came roaring back to win twice on the trot and take it to the decider.

Brandon King, Romario Shepherd, and Nicholas Pooran then guided the West Indies to an eight-wicket victory in the final game to clinch the series 3-2. After the match, India captain Hardik Pandya said that the defeat will teach them a lot. Here are the top five learnings India can take away from the defeat.

The need for more all-rounders

India played with a combination of five batters, two all-rounders, and four specialist bowlers. The word ‘specialist’ is to be taken literally here, for their No.8 batters in the series were Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, and Ravi Bishnoi. Their respective highest scores in their T20 (not T20I) careers are 23, 12, and 22.

Kuldeep consistently tormented Pooran, the highest run-scorer of the series, and was near-impossible to get away. Having already made a roaring comeback in ODIs, he now returned to his best in T20Is. In the process, he became the fastest Indian to 50 T20I wickets.

Hardik Pandya needs a clear role

Pandya batted twice at No.5 and twice at No.6 in a unit where the tail begins at No.8. He came in situations that demanded completely different approaches with the bat. With the ball as well, he shuffled himself around, sometimes taking the new ball and finishing his quota early, while sometimes starting as late as the 12th over.

As captain, Pandya probably wants to take more responsibility with both bat and ball, and wants to be the most flexible cricketer of the side. However, a slightly clearer and well-defined role should do both him and the team a lot of good.