We Were Confident But They Played Good Cricket and Had a Long Partnership': Rohit Sharma on 2023 ODI WC Final Loss vs Australia

Rohit Sharma along with Shreyas Iyer appeared at the recent episode of Netflix’s The Great Indian Kapil Show. (Image: X/@SPORTYVISHAL)

It wasn’t too long ago that the Indian team led by Rohit Sharma suffered a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the mighty Aussies where they lost out the 2023 ODI World Cup finals at Ahmedabad. While most players have moved on and are now focusing on the ongoing Indian Premier League followed by the T20 World Cup, the Indian skipper spoke in detail about his thoughts on that final against Australia.

The captain of the Indian team along with Shreyas Iyer was present in the recent episode of ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ on Netflix where Rohit was asked about that day.

Rohit revealed that the mood in the camp was fairly positive considering that the team had gone on to win all their games leading up to the finals and had found their groove with all the players being in good touch. He said,” It’s hard to say because, before the match we were in Ahmedabad two days earlier, and had our practice. The team had maintained a good momentum. As they say, the team was on autopilot”.

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Speaking on the finals, the skipper remained confident that the side could get a good score which in turn would put pressure on the opposition. He added,” But when the finals began, we had a great start, I think Shubman Gill got out quickly. But then Virat and I had a small partnership. We were confident that we could get a good score”.

The home team were able to set a target of only 241 runs after being all-out thanks to the fast-bowling trio of the skipper Pat Cummins along with Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc leading the charge against the hosts.

Rohit also mentioned that he believed if there was a good score on the board then the scoreboard pressure would hamper the batter’s efforts and give the side the wickets. He highlighted, “Because whenever you are playing in the finals, I believe that displaying scores on the board in big matches puts pressure on the opposition. Even if it’s 100 runs they must score as many runs. And any team can crumble under the pressure”.

However, the Aussies were able to overcome all that and were led by a fine knock of 137 runs in 120 deliveries by Travis Head to take the game away from the Indian side after losing three quick wickets. Rohit sportingly appreciated the Aussies for their brand of cricket,” But the Australian team played good cricket. We managed to take three wickets for just 40 runs, but then they had a long partnership”.

The captain also revealed that he feared the country would not be pleased with him following the devastating loss at home and was surprised to see the reception following the finals.

“Even I was thinking that even though the World Cup took place in our country, we still couldn’t win it, so I felt that the nation might be angry with us. That the people might be disappointed in us. But wherever I went after the World Cup finals, I only heard people praising how well we played, and they all thoroughly enjoyed watching that cricket. The result wasn’t favourable,” Rohit concluded.