Rohit Sharma was a relieved captain after India’s nerve-wracking five-run victory (DSL method) over Bangladesh in a T20 World Cup 2022 clash at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday (November 2).
Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue posted a highly competitive 184/6 in their allotted 20 overs. Virat Kohli once again top-scored for India with 44-ball 64* while KL Rahul (50 off 32 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (30 off 16 balls) made notable contributions with the bat.
Chasing the target, the Tigers got off to a blazing start as Litton Das took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners. Thanks to his 21-ball half-century in the powerplay, Bangladesh reached 66/0 after 7 overs before the rain entered and the overs had to be curtailed.
While Bangladesh were 17 runs ahead of the DLS par score when the rain arrived, they got the revised target of 151 in 16 overs when the game resumed.
Soon after the rain break, Litton Das got run out for 60 off 27 balls while the Indian bowlers held their nerves to restrict Bangladesh to 145/6. Arshdeep Singh (2-38), Hardik Pandya (2-28) and Mohammad Shami (1-25) bowled brilliantly post the rain interruption.
“Bit of both. I was calm and nervous at the same time. It was important for us as a group to stay calm and execute our plans. With 10 wickets in hand it could've gone either way but after the break we did well,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The Indian skipper also praised Arshdeep for defending 20 runs in the final over while bowling with the wet ball.
“When he came into the scene [on Arshdeep], we asked him to do that for us. With Bumrah not there, someone has to do it for us, and take the responsibility, for such a young guy to come and do it is not easy. But we prepared him for it. The last 9 months he has been doing it. There was a choice between Shami and him but we backed someone who did the job for us previously,” he added.
Veteran batter Virat Kohli is having a great time in the T20 World Cup Down Under. It was his third half-century in four innings and Rohit had special praise reserved for his predecessor.
“In my opinion he was always there, it was a matter of few innings here and there, he got it in the Asia Cup. We never had any doubts and the way he has been batting in this World Cup has been tremendous and he is really doing it for us,” the captain said on Kohli.
He also lauded Rahul for his scintillating fifty against Bangladesh after struggling early in the tournament.
“Also liked the way how KL played today. We know what sort of a player he is, if he bats the way he can, he puts the team in a different position.”
After a sloppy outing against South Africa in the last game, Rohit Sharma was pleased with India’s catching and ground fielding versus Bangladesh.
“Our fielding was brilliant, some of the catches we took was great to watch. It's a high-pressure game, to take those catches shows the ability of our guys and honestly I never had any doubts about our fielding,” he concluded.
(With Cricbuzz inputs)
