The Indian team’s ODI skipper, Rohit Sharma, has been quite successful as a captain for India in white-ball cricket. Winning the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados, Rohit and his men went on to lift the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 as well, all within the span of nine months.
The T20 World Cup 2024 final was a game that was almost out of India’s grasp before the side managed to make a comeback into the game. The clash saw India batting first, and where the side hoped for a good show with the bat, but the side’s top order failed to go big.
India quickly found themselves on a score of 34/3 in the fifth over, and reflecting on the same, Rohit opined that he had started to panic in the moment, but had some trust in his lower middle order to steady the ship.
"I was panicking. I wasn’t comfortable. I thought we’d let them into the game. Of course, in the back of my mind, I always believed our lower middle order, although it hadn’t batted much during the tournament, had made an impact whenever given the opportunity,” Rohit told JioHotstar.
"Not many people are talking about Axar’s knock, but it was the game-changer. Scoring 47 off 31 at that stage was vital. And we needed one player to bat through the innings; Virat did that brilliantly," added Rohit.
Rohit also talked about Kohli’s knock in the final
Where India struggled with the bat, ace batter Virat Kohli stabilised the innings for the Men in Blue. Opening the innings, Kohli scored 76 runs in 59 deliveries and helped India post 176 runs in the first innings of the game. Rohit also talked about Kohli’s knock and his partnership with Axar Patel.
"If you hit three boundaries in the first over, then you’ve started well. That’s what every cricketer wants. The experience of playing for India for so many years helps. You can control your emotions, control your thoughts and stay in the moment. I’m sure he was thinking the same: ‘Today is the day I need to be focused.’ Not worrying about what happened before. And he played a brilliant innings, a fantastic partnership with Axar," said Rohit.
