Indian skipper Rohit Sharma admitted it wasn’t a 190 pitch after they obliterated Pakistan by seven wickets with 117 balls to spare at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday to make three wins in three matches in the ongoing World Cup 2023. Pakistan was skittled out for a meager score of 191 runs after they were put into bat by Rohit Sharma.
In fact, Pakistan was looking set for a score of 280-290 at one stage as they were 155-2 with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan going strong. But Pakistan lost the rest of their eight wickets for 36 runs to veer off the track and they could not even breach the 200-run mark.
Indian bowlers came up with a collective bowling show with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya taking two wickets each. In fact, the pitch was good for batting but Pakistan could not make the most of their promising start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma was the star of the show with the bat as he took the attack to the opposition bowlers. The Indian skipper raced to 86 runs off just 63 balls with the help of six fours and as many sixes to kill any hopes of Pakistan’s comeback.
Rohit batted in the topmost gear as India posted 79-1 in the PowerPlay overs. Furthermore, Shreyas Iyer played a crucial knock of 53 runs after he was troubled a bit by short delivery stuff by Haris Rauf.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “The bowlers were the ones today as well who set the game up for us. I don’t think it was a 190 pitch. At one stage we were looking at 280. The way they showed grit says a lot. That is something we pride ourselves in. Whoever gets the ball does the job. We’ve got 6 individuals who can do the job with the ball. My job as a captain is important there as well. It’s to read the conditions and figure out who’s the right guy to do the job. It’s only because the guys – before entering the WC – they got a lot of runs.”
He added, “We were very clear what we wanted to do. Didn’t want to be in two minds about who’s going to bat where. All in all, it’s looking good. Want to keep my fingers crossed. Don’t want to get too excited. Don’t want to get too low as well. Want to stay balanced. Keep calm and keep moving forward. Every opposition we come up against are all quality. You have to play well on that particular day, and that’s what we’re looking at.”
India will next take on Bangladesh at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Thursday and they will look to continue the winning impetus.
