Rohit Sharma has been part of four successful defenses of low totals (between 129 and 149) in IPL finals alone, one as a player for Deccan Chargers and three as Mumbai Indians captain. Only one of these wins came through early wickets; in the other three, Rohit Sharma‘s team hung in for long enough.
All that experience came into use in defending 119 against Pakistan. Rohit Sharma didn’t want to burn through Jasprit Bumrah’s overs looking for wickets. Even when Pakistan had partnerships going for the second and the third wicket, he didn’t become desperate for wickets. He just wanted to stay in the game long enough.
Rohit Sharma on India’s win vs Pakistan
Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was critical of his batters despite registering a narrow 6-run win over Pakistan in their T20 World Cup 2024 encounter on Sunday. Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel were the only batters to show some promise as India were bundled out for 119. The bowlers came to India’s rescue as they produced a brilliant display to guide their team to a thrilling victory.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian cricket team bowlers as he finished with 3 wickets. However, Rohit Sharma was not content with the victory and he went on to criticize how they batted and the lack of partnerships after a solid start. It was a tricky pitch to bat on, but Pakistan had a decent start and were in control in the first half of their innings, however, Rohit Sharma looked calm and composed and didn’t hit any panic button stuck to his plans while managing his bowlers.
Rohit Sharma has the liberty of playing alongside Hardik and Bumrah in IPL as he led them in the past which gave him an added advantage of how to use them in critical situations. Hardik, who had a difficult IPL season as a player and captain this year, returned to form under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy in India’s blues. He has claimed three wickets in two matches.
Hardik has always been a big asset for Rohit as he has done well under his captaincy at both MI and Indian teams. The credit goes to the Indian skipper, who has managed him well and shown confidence in him under pressure situations. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma didn’t have the best of days with the bat, but his leadership on the field was just outstanding.
Rohit Sharma didn’t lose calm when things were not going India’s way, and his bowlers also executed the plans well. Jasprit Bumrah led the pace attack and produced an outstanding spell of 3/14 in his four overs which suffocated Pakistan batters in the moderate chase. While he got good support from the other end as Hardik and Arshdeep Singh claimed two wickets each, while Axar Patel picked one. Mohammed Siraj also bowled an economical spell of 19 runs off his four overs.
Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa hailed skipper Rohit Sharma for his brilliant captaincy during the Pakistan clash of the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York on June 9.
Robin Uthappa hails Rohit Sharma’s tactics during IND-PAK 2024 T20 World Cup clash
Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa hailed skipper Rohit Sharma for his brilliant captaincy during the Pakistan clash of the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York on June 9. Uthappa was particularly impressed by Rohit resisting the temptation to open the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah.
Despite defending a sub-par 119, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj opened the bowling and bowled the first two overs. Eventually, Bumrah came on and produced another match-winning spell of 3/14 in four overs to help India pull off a thrilling six-run victory.
Talking about Rohit’s captaincy post-game on Ravichandran Ashwin’s YouTube channel, Uthappa said:
“What I loved about the second innings was Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. It was class, responsive captaincy. Anyone else in Rohit Sharma’s place, defending 119 would have brought on the trump card in the first over. But Rohit said ‘no’. He trusted everyone, he kept faith in each one of them. He said ‘you come and execute your role’. In doing that, he actually gave them confidence not just for this match, but for the rest of the tournament.”
He added:
“He was saying ‘I trust your ability to bowl where you have to bowl’. Brought Arshdeep in the first over, gave Siraj his second over and then he went to Bumrah for the two most important overs in the powerplay. What did Bumrah do? He nearly got a wicket in his first over. And when he came back to bowl the fifth over, he picked the wicket of Babar Azam. He then gave Siraj another over in the 7th over.”
Bumrah won his second consecutive Player of the Match award after his heroics against Ireland in India’s opening game. Despite going wicketless, Siraj played a crucial role in India’s win with figures of 0/19 in four overs, while Arshdeep picked up 1/31 in his four overs. Indian team under skipper Rohit Sharma now has one foot in the Super 8’s after 2 wins the group stage and would look to carry the winning momentum in the tournament ahead.