Indian skipper Rohit Sharma hailed the collective effort of the team after they ended their World Cup title drought by beating South Africa by seven runs in the summit clash at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday. Rohit feels the team was able to finally reap the rewards for their hard work over the last three to four years.
India posted a competitive total of 176 runs on the board after winning the toss, with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 76 runs. Axar Patel also played a handy knock of 47 runs off 31 balls after he was promoted to number five.
However, India had their backs against the wall with South Africa needing 30 runs from the last five overs. On the first ball of the 17th over, Hardik Pandya got the big wicket of well-settled Heinrich Klaasen with a wide slower ball.
Subsequently, Bumrah dismissed Marco Jansen with an incoming delivery and then Suryakumar Yadav took an outstanding catch to get rid of David Miller in the final over, while running to his left.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “Very hard to sum up what we have been through for the last 3-4 years. To be honest, we worked very hard as individuals and as a team a team, lot has gone on behind the scenes for us to be here today and win this game. It is not what we did today, it is what we have been doing for the last 3-4 years. That’s the the result that has come for us today. We have played lots of high pressure games in the past as well and have been on the wrong side as well. But the guys understand what needs to be done. Today was the perfect example of when the back is against the wall, what is required. We stuck together as a team and the guys, all of us, even when at one point it was looking South Africa’s way.”
Rohit highlighted that they wanted to win the World Cup desperately and gave credit to the players as well as the support staff for coming up with a collective show.
Rohit said, “Overall, as a team, as a group on the field, we wanted this really bad. We wanted to win this. To win a tournament like this, a lot goes behind the scenes, a lot of effort, a lot of minds need to come together. I am very proud of this bunch of boys I have and the management as well for giving us that liberty to go and play, to execute, for having that trust in each one of us. That has to start from the management, coach, captain and then the players go out there and do it. Throughout the tournament, I think we were fantastic.”
On the other hand, there were doubts raised on Virat Kohli’s form as he had managed only 75 runs in seven matches of the World Cup. However, Kohli came back to form in the all-important as he scored a fine knock of 76 runs off 59 balls and helped India in posting a fighting total on the board.
Speaking on Kohli, Rohit said, “Not me, and nobody was in doubt with Virat’s form. We know the quality he has, he’s been on top of his game for 15 years, come the occasion the big players will stand up. Virat was holding that one end which was very crucial for us and the others played around him.”
After the World Cup win, both Rohit and Virat announced their retirement from T20Is.
