New York [US], June 10 (ANI): Following his side’s six-run win over Pakistan in their ICC T20 World Cup match, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma admitted that his side fell 15-20 runs short with the bat on a pitch where “every run mattered” and lauded pacer Jasprit Bumrah for his “genius” with the ball.
Pant’s classy 42-run knock, terrific catching behind the stumps and a miserly three-wicket haul by pacer Jasprit Bumrah helped India produce a narrow six-run win over Pakistan in a low-scoring contest at New York on a tough surface of Nassau County International Stadium.
Speaking about the batting in the post-match presentation, Rohit said, “We did not bat well enough. Halfway through our innings, we were in a good position. We did not put enough partnership there and fell short with the bat. We spoke about every run matters on a pitch like that. There was enough in the pitch. It was a good wicket to be honest, compared to the last game.”
Rohit said that with the bowling line-up India had, the team felt confident and wanted to make early inroads into Pakistan’s batting. Though Pakistan did not give India much opportunity to do something with the ball initially, the team still hoped that Pakistan could face a batting collapse just like India.
“The little contributions from everyone make the difference. Whoever has the ball wants to make the difference. Bumrah is going from strength to strength. I am not going to talk too much about him, we want him to be in that kind of mindset till the end of this World Cup, he is a genius with the ball,” he added.
Rohit hailed the crowd in New York, many of them Indians and Asians, saying, “The crowd was superb, they never disappoint, wherever we play in the world, they come out in huge numbers and support us. They will be going home with a big smile on their face as well. Just the start of the tournament, we have a long way to go.”
Coming to the match, Pakistan won the toss and put India to bat first. However, the Indian batters did not get things going for them at this tough surface as star openers Virat Kohli (4) and Rohit Sharma (13) failed to score big. Rishabh Pant (42 in 31 balls, with six fours) seemed to be playing on a different pitch and had useful partnerships with Axar Patel (20 in 18 balls, with two fours and a six) and Suryakumar Yadav (seven in eight balls, with a four). However, the lower middle order crumbled under the pressure of scoring runs on such a tough pitch and India could make just 119 in 19 overs.
Haris Rauf (3/21) and Naseem Shah (3/21) were the top bowlers for Pakistan. Mohammed Amir got two scalps while Shaheen Shah Afridi got one.
In the run-chase, Pakistan took a more measured approach and Mohammed Rizwan (31 in 44 balls, with a four and six) held one end steady. However, Bumrah (3/14) and Hardik Pandya (2/24) got crucial wickets of skipper Babar Azam (13), Fakhar Zaman (13), Shadab Khan (4), Iftikhar Ahmed (5) as well, which kept the pressure intact on Pakistan. With 18 runs needed in the final over, Naseem Shah (10*) tried to win it for Pakistan, however, Arshdeep Singh (1/31) made sure Pakistan fell short by six runs.
Bumrah secured the ‘Player of the Match’ for his match-winning spell. (ANI)
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