‘We’d want at least 20-25 days to prepare’ – Highlights from Rohit Sharma’s post-match interview in WTC 2021-23 Final
Rohit Sharma, India (Source: Twitter)
After suffering a crushing loss to Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final on Sunday at The Oval, Rohit Sharma claimed India put on a terrific performance and praised his players for “fighting till the end.” India suffered a 209-run defeat on the last day after losing 7 wickets for 70 runs in the first session. In his post-match presentation speech to the host broadcasters, Rohit Sharma remarked that after winning the toss, India started off well before blaming the bowlers for the team’s failure.
Despite a poor batting surface, Australia managed 469 runs thanks to magnificent hundreds from Travis Head and Steve Smith. India scored 296 runs in their opening inning, which gave Australia a significant advantage following yet another top-order miscue. In their second innings, Australia was briefly placed under duress, but they came back to give India a 444-run target to reach. After losing Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ajinkya Rahane early, India crumbled on Sunday morning after being 164 for 3 at the time of stumps. For Australia, the rest was a mere formality.
‘We’ll keep our heads high and fight’ – Rohit Sharma after losing the WTC 2021-23 final
Here’s what Rohit Sharma said after the match in the post-match press conference: “I thought we started well with winning the toss, putting them to bat in those conditions. We bowled well in the first session and then we let ourselves down with how we bowled,” Rohit Sharma said. “Got to give credit to the Australian batters. Head came in and played really well along with Steven Smith.
“That just took us off guard a little bit. We knew it was always hard to come back, but we put up a good show. We fought till the end. We’ve worked hard for all those four years. Playing two finals is honestly a good achievement for us. But we’d like to go a mile ahead as well. We would want at least 20-25 days to prepare for Finals like these.
“You can’t take the credit away from what we’ve done in those last two years to come here. .. it was a great effort from the entire unit. Unfortunate that we couldn’t go on and win the final but we’ll keep our heads high and fight. The crowd support has been brilliant. They’ve gotten behind the time. I’d like to thank each one of them. They were cheering for every run and every wicket,” Rohit said.
