India captain Rohit Sharma Tuesday said he has always stressed on having six bowling options at his disposal without compromising the batting depth, which was on full view in the team’s comfortable win over Australia in the Champions Trophy. Set a target of 265, India rode on Virat Kohli’s 84 and useful contributions from the likes of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul to register a four-wicket win with 11 balls to spare, after the bowlers restricted the Aussies to a sub-par total in the first semifinal. “That is something I really wanted, to have six bowling options and then batting till No. 8 as well. This is something we discussed while making the squad. Credit goes to everyone who were involved in making the team,” Rohit said at the presentation ceremony.
Mohammed Shami (3/38) grabbed three wickets while Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets apiece.
“Halfway through the game, we felt it was a reasonable score, and we have to bat really really well. I thought we were very clinical with the bat. We were very calm and composed. The wicket looked better, and that has been the nature of the surfaces.
“The one which played today was slightly better. We just want to play good cricket and not read too much into what the pitch is doing.” Needless to say, Rohit lavished rich praise on his longtime teammate Kohli for anchoring yet another successful chase.
“He has done it for us for so many years. We were very calm. We wanted that big stand which Shreyas and Virat had. Then the shots by Hardik in the end were very important.” In the title clash, India will take on the winner of the second semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand.
The Indian triumph ensures that the final of the eight-team competition will now be held here instead of Lahore, the original host of the marquee clash.
Rohit said, “When you want to play the final, you want all your guys in form. That is something that gives us a lot of confidence. We will not think too much about it. When the time comes, we will think about it. I also want the guys to relax.”
We could have put up few more on board: Smith
Australian skipper Steve Smith believed they fell short of what would have been a challenging total by a good 20 runs.
“The bowlers did a really good job. The spinners squeezed them and took the game deeper. It was a tricky wicket to start on and we did a good job.
“It wasn’t the easiest batting condition. We could have put a few more runs on the board. If we had 280-plus, it could have been different. We were one wicket down too many at each stage of the game,” Smith said.
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