We enjoyed the company of each other – Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma’s fine run in the World Cup continued as he scored another breezy half-century to provide India a rock-solid start against the Netherlands. He may not have carried the baton with himself to the very end but he was in electric form during his stay at the center.

Not only did his heroics include the fifty but he also claimed a wicket to finish off the resistance from Netherlands with the final wicket of the free-firing Teja Nidamanuru.

Rohit spoke at length about the match-up and also how India managed to turn things around in brilliant fashion. He started with an anecdote about India’s journey in the World Cup, adding, “Since we started the tournament, for us, it was all about thinking about one game at a time and playing that game well.”

He further added, “We never wanted to look too far ahead because it's a long tournament. It was important for us to break it down and focus on one game and play that well. That is what everyone did. Because you play in different venues and different conditions, you have to adapt and play accordingly, that's exactly what we did. Very pleased with how we have played in these nine games. Very clinical from game one till today.”

He highlighted the difference in the conditions, and how the entire Indian cricket team came together, stating, “That's because different individuals have stepped up at different times. This is a good sign for the team when everyone wants to take the responsibility and get the job done for the team. Although we play a lot of cricket in India, we know the conditions, but still when you play different opposition, that's the challenge in different conditions. We adapted really well.”

Rohit continued, “We started the tournament four games in a row chasing and then we had to bat first, put the runs on the board, then seamers did the rest along with the spinners. It's important, the results do matter to keep the dressing room environment lively. There's going to be a lot of expectations, we wanted to keep everything aside and focus on the job at hand. That is something everyone bought into. We enjoyed the company of each other once the tournament started.”

He also underlined the importance of the jovial mood in the dressing room, adding, “We wanted to play the game on the field with a lot of fun, excitement and that reflected on our performances. When we try and do these kinds of things, we keep the atmosphere nice and healthy outside, guys tend to perform really well without any burden. When you have five bowlers, you want to create those options within the team.”

He concluded by talking about the overall bowling options used against Netherlands, saying, “Today we had nine (bowling) options, it's important, this was the game where we could have tried certain things. The seamers bowling those wide yorkers when it was not needed, but we wanted to do that. As a bowling unit, we wanted to try doing something different and see what we can achieve.”