Indian skipper Rohit Sharma hailed his bowlers after their 68-run win in the second semifinal against England in the ongoing T20 World Cup at the Providence Stadium, Guyana on Thursday. India posted a par score of 171 runs on the board after Buttler decided to bowl first.
Indian bowlers were right on the money from the get-go as Axar Patel got the big wicket of Jos Buttler. Subsequently, Bumrah bamboozled Phil Salt with a slower ball and Patel accounted for Jonny Bairstow as he found the gap between bat and pad.
Patel then got Moeen Ali stumped whereas Kuldeep Yadav was also able to create an impact as soon as he was introduced into the attack. Patel returned with impressive figures of 3-23 while Kuldeep bagged 3-19 in his quota of four overs. Furthermore, Bumrah picked up two wickets as registered figures of 2-12.
Rohit Sharma said in the post-match presentation, “We got to 170 which I thought was a very good score on that pitch and then the bowlers were fantastic. They (Axar and Kuldeep) are gun spinners. When the conditions like that are in front of them, It’s difficult to play some shots. The pressure is on them as well to come and execute those balls but they were calm and knew what to bowl. We had a little chat after the first innings – try and hit the stumps as much as possible, keep the stumps in play.”
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma continued his purple patch as he scored 57 runs off 39 balls (his 32nd T20I fifty) whereas Suryakumar Yadav scored 47 runs. The duo added 73 runs off 50 balls and it proved to be a game-changing partnership.
Rohit added, “At one stage, we were feeling 140-150 and as the game went on, we got some runs in the middle, me and Surya. We got that partnership, then we said another 25 runs more. I can set the target in my mind, but I don’t want to let anyone know about it, to the batters … because … they are all all instinctive players and I want them to go out there and play freely without thinking too much about what’s the par score. We bat well, we understand the condition well, we will get to a good score and that’s exactly what happened.”
India will take on South Africa in the all-important final at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on Saturday.
