Last Update on: November 12th, 2023 at 10:13 pm
The Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team used as many as 9 bowling options in the 45th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Sunday, November 12, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
After Hardik Pandya suffered an injury and got ruled out of the World Cup, India decided to go with a combination of 6 batters, 4 bowlers, and 1 all-rounder in Ravindra Jadeja. India lack a sixth bowling option in the absence of Hardik Pandya and there is a need for the part-time bowlers to step up.
In the net sessions, the likes of Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, and even Rohit Sharma have been seen rolling over their arm. All the aforementioned players were also seen bowling in the match against the Dutch.
After Mohammed Siraj got hurt, Rohit Sharma brought in Virat Kohli, who bowled magnificently and picked up a big wicket of Scott Edwards. Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav also got the opportunity to bowl but they weren’t able to bag any wickets.
In the end, the skipper Rohit Sharma, who has had a lot of success as a bowler in IPL, himself came to bowl and ended up picking up a wicket to wrap up the innings.
On the 5th ball of the 48th over, Rohit Sharma tossed up a delivery on middle-stump and Teja Nidamanuru tried to smash it but only managed to get the toe-end of the bat. Mohammed Shami came in from long-on and completed an easy catch to send back the batter and the Dutch were bowled out for 250.
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Today we had nine bowling options, it’s important – Rohit Sharma
Speaking after the match, Rohit Sharma said that having extra bowling options is very important on a stage like the World Cup. He said:
“Today we had nine (bowling) options, it’s important, this is the game where we could have tried. Seamers bowling those wide yorkers when not needed, but we wanted to do something different.”
Rohit Sharma further talked about the performance of India and said that they focused on one game at a time and were very clinical throughout the competition. Rohit said:
“Since we started the tournament, for us, it was all about thinking about one game at a time. We never wanted to look too far ahead because it’s a long tournament. It was important to focus on one game. Different venues and we had to adapt, that’s exactly what we did. Very pleased with how we have played in these nine games. Very clinical from game one till today. That’s because different individuals have stepped up at different times. That’s a good sign for the team.”
