“I felt nation might be angry…”: Rohit Sharma on 2023 WC final loss to Australia

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opened up on India’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 final loss against Australia, saying that he thought initially that the country was angry with them but instead got a lot of appreciation for their brand of cricket.

Rohit Sharma graced the actor-comedian Kapil Sharma’s show ‘The Great Indian Kapil Show’ along with middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer on Saturday.

During the episode, when Kapil Sharma said that the Indian team played incredibly well throughout the World Cup, but somehow it slipped right from their fingers in the last match.

Speaking to Kapil about the title clash, Rohit said that the team had great momentum after a winning streak of 10 matches, almost as if they were on “autopilot” mode.

“Two days before the match, our team was in Ahmedabad and we did our practice. The team had maintained a good momentum. As if the team was on autopilot. When the match began, we started good. Shubman Gill got out quickly but then Virat Kohli and I had a partnership. We were confident we could achieve a good score. I feel that in big matches, if you are able to score runs and create pressure on the opposite team, it is good as any team can slip under pressure. But Australia played good cricket. We even managed to take three wickets for just around 40 runs but they had a long partnership after that,” said Rohit.

Later, Archana Puran Singh during the conversation, pointed out that how despite the loss, people were happy with the team’s performance and that they had won the hearts of everyone. In response to this, the audience broke into chants of ‘Rohit! Rohit’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘We are proud you’.

Even Rohit expressed surprise at fans’ response after the team’s heartbreaking loss that continued India’s poor run in ICC knockout matches.

“I was thinking that the World Cup took place in our country but still we could not win. I felt the nation might be angry with us. But I only heard people praising how well we played, and how they enjoyed watching that cricket,” said Rohit.

Coming to the title clash at Ahmedabad, which took place on November 19, Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. Rohit (47 in 31 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes), the skipper got India off to a good start despite early loss of Shubman Gill for just four runs. India was 76/1 in 9.3 overs but lost Rohit to a mistimed shot.

Then, the fifties did come from Virat Kohli (54 in 62 balls, with four boundaries) and KL Rahul (66 in 107 balls, with one four), but the run-flow was restricted to such an extent due to frequent fall of wickets and brilliant bowling by Australians that India was skittled out for 240 in 50 overs. Mitchell Starc (3/55) and Pat Cummins (2/34) were the top bowlers for Australia.

In the run-chase, Australia lost some quick wickets and were staring at a possible defeat at 47/3. But a partnership between Travis Head (137 in 120 balls, with 15 fours and four sixes) and Marnus Labuschagne (58* in 110 balls, with four boundaries) guided Australia out of troubled waters, straight to their sixth World Cup title with a six-wicket win.

Virat Kohli (765 runs in 11 matches at an average of 95.62, with three centuries and six fifties), Rohit Sharma (597 runs in 11 matches at an average of 54.27 at a strike rate of over 125, with a century and three fifties), Shreyas Iyer (530 runs in 11 matches at an average of 66.25 and a strike rate of over 113 with two centuries and three fifties), KL Rahul (452 runs in 11 matches at an average of 75.33, with a century and two fifties), Mohammed Shami (24 wickets in seven wickets), Jasprit Bumrah (20 wickets in 11 matches) and Ravindra Jadeja (16 wickets and 120 runs in 11 matches) broke several records with their performances in the tournament. India’s crushing loss despite such a level of dominance caused heartbreak to millions of Indian fans.