Challenging in a lot of aspects - Rohit Sharma sums up India’s victory against Sri Lanka

It was a fine display from the Indian bowlers that saw the Men in Blue fend off the hosts after a shaky showdown with the bat from Rohit Sharma’s men as they eventually booked their berth in the Asia Cup 2023 final. With a modest total of 213 on the board, India were desperate to get a handful of early breakthroughs that came via Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. However, it was the spinners who shattered the spine of the Lankan chase, with Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja plundering six wickets between them.

Indian captain Rohit’s knock was one of the standouts, with the opener putting together an amazing start that saw him belting the Lankan bowlers mercilessly at the start of the innings. His quickfire half-century allowed India to get the runs early in the innings before finding themselves in a rut from which recovery seemed hardly plausible. However, the Indian captain was pretty happy with how things went and heaped plaudits on his team.

Talking at the post-match conference about the game, Rohit said, “Was a good game. For us also to play a game like that under pressure on a slightly challenging pitch. Challenging in a lot of aspects. Definitely looking to play on pitches like this to see what we can achieve, we might as well come here and play on pitches like these.”

He then shifted his focus to Hardik Pandya, adding, “He has worked really hard in his bowling for the last couple of years. It doesn't happen overnight and it's pleasing to see. He looked like taking a wicket off every ball. Was not an easy target to defend as the pitch got easier at the end and we had to put it consistently in one area and I think we did quite well.”

Rohit concluded by talking about Kuldeep Yadav, who is in extraordinary form, stating, “For the past year or so he has been bowling really really well. He has done a lot of hard work on his rhythm. He went back to the drawing board and worked on it. The ball is coming out nicely and you can see the results in the last 10 ODIs.”