In their six-run victory over Pakistan in a Group A match of the T20 World Cup 2024, India’s captain Rohit Sharma said that the bowlers came through for the team. India was bowled out for the first time against Pakistan in the tournament’s history on a slow and subpar field at the Nassau County Cricket Stadium, managing to score just 119 runs. The bowling attack spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, however, saved the day by successfully defending the target and earning their second victory in one game.
In a mid-innings pep talk, Rohit Sharma recalled, India expressed confidence that they could inflict the same damage on Pakistan’s batters that the opposing bowlers had done to theirs on a field that made hitting strokes difficult.
“Only 119 on the board, and we wanted to make early inroads which we didn’t. But at the halfway stage we got together and said if things can happen to us, they can happen to them too. The little contributions from everyone makes the difference. Whoever has the ball wants to make the difference,” he added.
Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel were the only hitters who managed to get going, therefore India paid a heavy price for their “reckless” play. Axar, who entered at No. 4, and Rishabh Pant steadied the ship and helped India post 50 in the powerplay after Virat Kohli (4) and Rohit Shamra (13) threw it away.
But when both of them left, India lost their final 7 wickets for just 30 runs, going from 89 for 3 to 119 all out. As Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, and Haris Rauf shared eight wickets between them, players like Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Hardik Pandya found it difficult to get going.
After taking three wickets in a meager four overs, Jasprit Bumrah was praised by captain Rohit Sharma. Bowling 14 dot balls, Bumrah conceded just 14 runs. When Pakistan needed 21 runs in the final two overs, he conceded just 3 runs in the 19th over.
“Bumrah is going from strength to strength. I’m not going to talk too much about him, we want him to be in that kind of mindset till the end of this World Cup, he’s a genius with the ball,” Rohit added.
The captain of India also praised the raucous Indian cricket supporters at the Nassau County Cricket Ground for acting as their 12th man in the nail-biting match.
Team India will be facing the USA challenge on this Wednesday in New York.
