Rohit Sharma on their batting performance
Rohit was quite chuffed with the way middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and pacer Mohammed Shami repaid the management’s faith in this World Cup.
Iyer made an outstanding 77 off 87 balls while Shami picked a wicket that swelled his tally in the tournament to 15.
Rohit said he would have kept his faith in them even if they did not come out with such performances.
“Even if the faith hadn’t been repaid (by Shreyas and Shami), I would have still stuck to them. We need to keep the trust. It can’t be done every day. For Shami to comeback the way he has, shows the mindset. The last two games have shown what Iyer is capable of,” he noted.
Upfront, Rohit has made a riveting alliance with his partner Shubman Gill but the skipper said their aggressive approach was not premeditated.
“Gill and myself have been batting together for a majority of time now. We let the instincts take over. We don’t pre-plan anything. We just assess and play accordingly,” he said.
Ravindra Jadeja too made a statement of his skills while making a quick 29 off 15 balls that gave India some late steam and then he returned to pick up a five-wicket haul (5/33).
Rohit praises Jadeja for his all-round effort.
“Today was a classical case as to what Jadeja is for us. He came out at the death and scored vital runs. Then picked up five wickets. He knows his role and knows the expectations from him.” India have now won an unprecedented eight matches in a row in the World Cup 2023, but Rohit did not give in for hyperboles.
“Not to get too ahead of ourselves has been the talk in the dressing room. We have a couple of big games coming up. We don’t want to change anything.” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said his side failed to adapt on this day.
“We know the challenge, know the narrative around us while chasing. Didn’t do it any justice today. When we talk about it as a batting group, gotta be honest,” he said.
“The first ten overs with the ball made it a challenge. We did do quite well after that. Biggest challenge was taking wickets and India built big stands. The conditions are the biggest learning.
“Wicket played as we suspected it to play – expected it to deteriorate but we didn’t adapt well. It will be up to us to adapt our skills accordingly,” he said.
Summery
While appearing slow, Virat Kohli’s century was praised by Indian captain Rohit Sharma for being appropriate for the circumstances of the match in a recent World Cup match. India scored 326/5 thanks to a century from Kohli. Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Shami’s performances were praised by Rohit. He emphasized the value of having faith in players by saying he would have continued to support them even if they had fallen short.Rohit underlined the group’s capacity for situational adaptation and said they had to play to the circumstances.