It seems like losing three wickets for nothing has become a consistent fixture for India in World Cups. Whether it was the 2019 Cricket World Cup or the 2021 T20 World Cup and now the ongoing World Cup in India. But this time around, thankfully for India, the target they were chasing was small and they overcame a tough start to actually win that match. The situation at 2/3 was precarious and a 165-run stand following that will give a lot of confidence to the team. But as soon as it happened, the fans went back to something that skipper Rohit Sharma said, when his captaincy stint began for India in 2021.
Rohit had said in reference to India’s top-order collapse in the T20 World Cup 2021 match against Pakistan that he wanted the middle order to be prepared for a situation like 10/3 and still be able to get a 180-190 score. “I would say it was that initial phase of the game where we lost the game. So that’s something I’ll keep in mind and see that we prepare for the worst. We have to prepare when the team is 10 for 3. That’s how I want to move forward and get the message across to the boys that guys who are batting at No. 3, 4, 5, 6, there’s nowhere written that if you are 10 for 2 or 3 [in a T20I], you can’t get 180 or you can’t get 190, or maybe more,” Rohit had said.
The statement resurfaced on social media on Sunday maid a terrible collapse.
And his team has walked the talk, albeit in ODIs where the players get a little more time to settle in and since both Virat Kohli and KL Rahul had a score in front of them, they knew exactly how to pace their innings. Only 50-odd runs were scored in 15 overs before the two got going and started milking as it was a proper rescue-maintain-attack job which Kohli and Rahul did perfectly.
The result was India chased the target down in 41.2 overs, getting across a big hurdle of the five-time champions Australia. Now the real tournament begins for India – to keep this sustained through nine games.
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