India's bowler Hardik Pandya with captain Rohit Sharma during the ICC Men's T20 World Cup cricket match.
Credit: PTI Photo
Rohit Sharma heaved a sigh of relief with Australia’s exit from the T20 World Cup. Of course, he made it sound like a joke, but given the latter’s ability to come up big in the knockouts, there was an element of sincerity to the sentiment.
“That there is no more Australian cricket team in the tournament (laughs),” he said when asked what the big takeaways from the previous game were. “But, that game was such an all-round game for us, it gave us a lot of confidence. The bowlers were brilliant, the batters did their roles. See, when you play a quality team and when you win like that, you gain a lot of confidence.”
On a personal note, the Indian skipper accepted that the 41-ball 92 he pummelled en route India scoring 205 for 5 in their last Super Eight game, was one of the most satisfying knocks he has come up with in a long time.
“I wanted to try and do something which I have been trying for several years, which is trying to put pressure on the bowlers,” he said. “After the game, it was very satisfying to sit and realise that I was able to do that. We have seen this format, when you’re under pressure, you can crack so we try and put that on the bowlers. Takes a lot of understanding to know where to hit and execute. I was able to that day and it was very rewarding."
Another game which Rohit highlighted to explain India’s dominance in the tournament was the one against Bangladesh, where they won by 50 runs. India put up 196 despite only one half-centurion - Hardik Pandya - and Rohit said that’s the way wants innings to shape up, ideally.
"The Bangladesh game was perfect. Only one person made 50 the rest made 20s, 30s and we were good to get to 196. That is nice, their roles were executed well. It wasn’t about one person. This is what is required for the team. If everyone does their role, we will get to our scores. The same with the bowling unit,” he remarked.
Asked about how they were going to approach their semifinals against England on Thursday, Rohit said what he has said all tournament long: “Just like another game.”
“We don’t want to change the complexion of the team. Everyone knows it’s the semifinal so we don’t want to keep talking about it over and over again. All of us are in a good frame of mind. Enjoying each other's company and our successes. Important to carry on. Yes, we have been put under pressure in games before but we have not thought too far ahead and that has worked for us,” he explained.