I wouldn’t say there was no pressure – Rohit Sharma on India’s semifinal win vs New Zealand

Team India produced another remarkable performance that saw them surging past New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, booking their berth for the final of World Cup 2023. From the breezy start imparted by Rohit Sharma to Mohammed Shami’s stellar performance, all the Indian players put up a stellar show to excel over the Black Caps.

The Indian captain, Rohit Sharma was ecstatic with the performance produced by his teammates, lauding them for another humdinger victory, this time burying the ghosts of the past. He opened up at length at the post-match presentation, heaping praises on his teammates while setting his focus on the bigger picture.

Talking about the match and Wankhede, Rohit said, “I have played a lot of cricket here, you cannot relax. You got to get the job done as quickly as possible. We knew there'll be pressure on us. We were calm even though we were a bit sloppy on the field. These things are bound to happen, glad that we could get the job done.”

He also shed some light on how India managed to wrap things up in the second half adding, “When the scoring rate is above 9, you gotta take chances. They gave us chances, we didn't take them., Mitchell and Williamson batted brilliantly. We had to stay calm. The crowd went silent, that's the nature of the game. We knew we had to pull something from our sleeves. We tried everything and Shami was brilliant.”

Shedding some light on the prized Indian batting unit, Rohit Sharma said, “The top five-six batters, they have made it count. Very pleased with what Iyer has done in this tournament. Gill, the way he batted upfront was brilliant, unfortunately he had to return back. Kohli, as usual, was brilliant, played his trademark innings and got to his landmark. All in all, the batting was superb.”

The Hitman concluded by saying, “That's the template we want to move with. In the England game, we got only 230 on the board. The way our bowlers bowled upfront, they picked wickets. Today, I wouldn't say there was no pressure. Guys were doing the job. We wanted to do what we've been doing in the first nine games. Things came off really nice.”