Captain Rohit Sharma of the Indian cricket team. (Photo: PTI)
India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday admitted that it was not easy playing on a newly constructed two-pace drop-in pitch at the Nassau County ground and the team had to hang on till the end to register wins in each of their three matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
India recorded the highest successful chase at this venue when they scored 111/3 in reply to USA’s 110/8, after Arshdeep Singh (4/9), Suryakumar Yadav (50 not out) and Shivam Dube (31) played key roles played.
“We knew it was going to be tough. Credit to us for holding our nerve and getting that partnership. Credit to Surya and Dube for showing the maturity and helping us get through it,” Rohit said after the match.
The skipper seemed more than happily relieved that they had cleared the first hurdle at the global meet.
It’s a big relief to be in the Super Eight. It was not easy to play cricket here (as it could have been anyone’s game). In all three games we had to persevere until the end. We will take great confidence from these victories, he added.
The Indian captain had praise for each of the three key players while applauding Suryakumar for changing his aggressive approach to anchor the chase.
He (Suryakumar) showed that he has a different game than him, that’s what you expect from experienced players. Thanks to the way he persevered today to take the game deep and win it for us, he said.
We knew bowlers had to take the lead as scoring runs was difficult. All the bowlers did the job, especially Arshdeep, Rohit said after India qualified for Super Eight.
Rohit said that since the seamers were expected to dominate, the team decided to give Dube a chance to roll over his arm as well.
(A) Many of these boys have played cricket together and are very happy to see their progress. I saw them in the MLC last year too, they are all hardworking guys, Rohit said while talking about American cricketers.
After producing top T20I figures for India, Arshdeep said he wanted to make full use of a seam-friendly surface.
In the last two games I gave away few points, (and I was) not happy with that. The team always shows confidence in me and continues to support me. I had to perform for them, he said.
The wicket is very conducive to fast bowlers and it helps us get some seam movement. The plan was simple: throw it in the wicket and let the ball do the talking. Don’t give easy balls to score, our batsmen also have problems in scoring runs, he said.
American stand-in skipper Aaron Jones, meanwhile, felt his side was competitive but fell a few runs short.
(We were) 10-15 runs short. If we had reached 130 it would have been a tough total, that’s how it goes sometimes. The boys were very disciplined and very proud of the bowling unit, he said.
(It) feels good, this is what we wanted for American cricket, to enjoy it. We will now recalibrate, have a few meetings and come back strong, he added.
Jones said regular USA captain Monank Patel should be fit in time for their final match against Ireland.
Most of the time he should be fit for the last game, he just has a small niggle, Jones said.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: June 13, 2024 | 12:59 pm IST