Don’t know what to expect from the pitch – Rohit Sharma

Indian captain Rohit Sharma put up a scintillating show in the tournament opener for the Men in Blue, blasting a fine half-century after the bowlers left Ireland reeling in a vortex of entropy. He eventually retired hurt after copping a blow just below his elbow but the damage was already done by then with the opener scoring 52 out of the 97-run target set.

Talking in the post-match interview, Rohit highlighted the key pointers that defined the victory for India while dissecting how the entire bowling union came together to propel the Men in Blue to a staggering win in their season opener.

Rohit said, “Yeah, just a little sore (the arm). I said it at the toss as well. Quite unsure of what to expect from the pitch. Not aware of what it is to play like on a pitch that's five months old. I don't think the wicket settled down even when we batted second. There was enough for the bowlers. That's pretty much what you gotta do. Try to hit those lengths consistently.”

Shedding some light on the composition of the team, Rohit added, “All these guys have played a lot of Test cricket. Arshdeep is the only guy who hasn't. His two wickets upfront set the tone for us. Don't think we can play four spinners here (laughs). When we picked the team, we wanted to have balance. If conditions are there for seamers, we wanted to have that. Spin will play a part later on. Today was a four-seamer pitch and we still managed to get two spinners who are all rounders.”

He concluded by talking about the surface, stating, “I don't know what to expect from the pitch to be honest. We will prepare as if the conditions are going to be like this (for Pakistan game). This is going to be a kind of game where all 11 of us will need to contribute. It was scratchy, but good to spend some time in the middle and understand what kind of shots to play there.”