“I wish this innings came in the first 2 matches”: Rohit Sharma press conference after India’s win over Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup

Rohit Sharma press conference: Indian opener expressed his regret over not playing a big knock against Pakistan and New Zealand.

After losing two games on the trot, India finally registered their first win of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. India defeated Afghanistan by 66 runs, whereas they also kept their hopes alive in the tournament.

Virat again lost the toss, but this time Indian batters didn’t disappoint. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma came with all guns blazing and they registered an opening stand of 140 runs. Rohit scored 74 runs at a strike-rate of 157.45, whereas Rahul scored 69 runs at 143.75. Hardik and Pant were also in the mood, and they scored 62 runs in just 26 balls. In the end, the Indian team finished at 210 runs.

Afghanistan never looked in contention and they just managed to score just 144 runs. Shami scalped three wickets for India, whereas Ashwin scalped a couple. Karim Janat scored 42 runs in just 22 balls for the Afghan team.

Rohit Sharma Press Conference

For his half-century, Rohit Sharma won the Man of the Match award. However, he did express his regret of not playing well in the previous games. “I wish this innings came in the first 2 matches”, Rohit Said,

On Inclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin was back in the white-ball team after a period of more than four years. He didn’t disappoint and scalped two wickets by just conceding 14 runs. Rohit Sharma also praised Ashwin for his performance.

“Ravi Ashwin is a quality bowler, taken so many wickets for India, it was a challenge for him, coming after 4 long years but he has been doing well in IPL – he takes wickets in middle overs and more importantly he understands himself”, Rohit said.

On IPL’s influence before the World Cup

Rohit was asked that about the influence of IPL on the players. A question was asked about whether some of India’s players needed a bit more time to slip out of their IPL roles and perform different roles for the national team. Sharma however denied all these speculations.

“Not really, to be honest,” Rohit said. “All these guys, if I look at the top six-seven batters – myself, KL [Rahul], Virat [Kohli], [Rishabh] Pant, Surya [Suryakumar Yadav], Hardik [Pandya] and then Jaddu [Ravindra Jadeja], these guys have been playing for a long time, so they don’t need to be told what they need to do in the Indian team.”

On Rahul Dravid’s appointment as head coach

BCCI have finally announced the appointment of Rahul Dravid as the Indian team’s head coach. Rohit Sharma also congratulated Dravid on the appointment.

“Congratulations to Rahul Dravid, welcome back to him into the team in a different role, looking forward to work with him,” Rohit said.