India captain Rohit Sharma added another feather to his cap, claiming his first wicket in a Cricket World Cup match on Sunday. Rolling his arm as India needed just one wicket to win the contest against the Netherlands in Bengaluru, Rohit delivered having bowled just 5 deliveries. Wife Ritika Sajdeh, who was watching from the stands, was all smiles seeing the India captain do something unique on the 22-yard strip.
India were stupendous with the bat, scoring 410 runs, with the top 5 batters scoring 50-plus runs. KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, recorded centuries. Up against minnows Netherlands, with their position at the top of the points table already sealed, India gave the opportunity to the likes of Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill to bowl in the match. Rohit himself also bolwed off spin.
Kohli and Rohit went on to take wickets in the match. Here's the video of Rohit's maiden World Cup wicket:
In the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit gave insights into India's campaign so far, admitting that he was quite pleased with the way his team has adapted to the challenges posed.
"Since we started the tournament, for us, it was all about thinking about one game at a time. We never wanted to look too far ahead because it's a long tournament. It was important to focus on one game. Different venues and we had to adapt, that's exactly what we did. Very pleased with how we have played in these nine games. Very clinical from game one till today. That's because different individuals have stepped up at different times. That's a good sign for the team," Rohit said
When asked about the bowling experiments, Rohit said with a smile on his face that India had 9 options on the day.
"We know the conditions, but when you play different opponents, that's a different challenge. We adapted really well. We started four games in a row and then we had to bat first, seamers did the rest along with the spinners. It's important, 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. We wanted to play the game on the field with a lot of fun and that reflected on our performances. Today we had nine (bowling) options, it's important, this is the game where we could have tried. Seamers bowling those wide yorkers when not needed, but we wanted to do something different," he added.
India will now face New Zealand in the semi-finals of the World Cup.