T20 World Cup 2024 | "Very happy to see their progress": Rohit on USA's cricketers

Rohit Sharma

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday admitted it wasn't easy playing on a two-paced newly-laid drop-in pitch at Nassau County ground and the team had to stick through till the end to notch up wins in each of their three matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup.

India recorded the highest successful chase at this venue when they scored 111-3 in reply to USA's 110-8 after Arshdeep Singh (4-9), Suryakumar Yadav (50 not out) and Shivam Dube (31) played key roles.

‘Knew it would be tough'

"We knew it would be tough. Credit to us for the way we held our nerve and got that partnership. Credit to Surya and Dube for showing the maturity and taking us through," Rohit said.

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The skipper seemed relieved more than happy that they have crossed the first hurdle at the global meet. "Being in the Super Eight is a big relief, playing cricket here wasn't easy [as] it could have been anyone's game. We had to stick through till the end in all three games. We will take a lot of confidence from these wins," he added.

The Indian captain had praise for each of the three key performers while applauding Suryakumar for changing his aggressive approach to anchor the chase. "He [Suryakumar] showed he has a different game to him, that's what you expect from experienced players. Credit to the way he stuck through today [Wednesday] to take the game deep and win it for us," he said.

‘Bowlers did the job'

"We knew bowlers had to take the lead [as] run scoring was difficult. All the bowlers did the job, particularly Arshdeep," said Rohit.

Rohit said since seamers were expected to dominate, the team decided to give Dube a chance to roll over his arm too. "You want options and we should be able to use them as and when we can. Today, the pitch favoured the seamers so wanted to use him," he said.

"[A] lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress. Saw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys," Rohit
said while talking about USA cricketers.

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