Nagpur, Rohit Sharma was all praise for the bowlers after India’s 30-run win over Bangladesh in the third T20I at the VCA Stadium here on Sunday.
The win sealed a 2-1 series win for India, which was powered by seamer Deepak Chahar, who took a hat-trick and ended with dream figures of 6/7 — the best in the history of T20 internationals.
“The bowlers who won us the game,” said Rohit, who led India in the series in the absence of Virat Kohli.
“I know how tough it was in the middle considering the dew factor. At one stage, it was looking easy for them when they needed 70-odd in 8 overs and things were looking tough for us. It was a great comeback from us. The boys took the responsibility and raised their hands up,” said Rohit.
Bangladesh looked like cruising towards a historic series win with Mohammad Naim and Mohammad Mithun adding 98 runs for the third wicket before the Indian bowlers, led by Chahar, applied the breaks.
Rohit could be seen animatedly talking to the team at one point during a huddle.
“I just reminded them this (pointing towards the badge on the jersey) is what we are playing for. I can understand that when wickets are not falling, it’s hard to pick ourselves up. I just had to remind the team what they were playing for. Credit goes to the bowlers,” he said.
Rohit also praised the batsmen for their efforts. Put into bat, India were powered by half-centuries by K.L. Rahul and Shreyas Iyer to post a challenging total of 174/5.
“The way Rahul and Iyer played, it was magnificent. That is what we want from the team — individuals taking the responsibility,” Rohit said.
Apart from Kohli, India were also missing star bowler Jasprit Bumrah and the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja in the series. Rohit said that performances like these will give Kohli and the selectors some good headache ahead of the 2020 World T20.
“We got to find the right balance before the World T20. Few guys are missing, but they’ll come back. We have few games in mind before we get into that flight to Australia. If we keep performing like we did today, it’s going to be a big headache for Virat and the selectors,” he said.
