World Cup 2023: 'Wasn't our day', Rohit Sharma reflects on reason for defeat against Australia in final
Indian captain Rohit Sharma was a disappointed man after the World Cup final loss Photograph:( X )
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Speaking at the post-match ceremony, a disappointed-looking Rohit said his side tried everything but it wasn't meant to be
Speaking at the post-match ceremony, a disappointed-looking Rohit said his side tried everything but it wasn't meant to be
Indian captain Rohit Sharma reflected on the World Cup final loss against Australia saying his side were 'not good enough' on the day. India succumbed to a six-wicket defeat as Australia demolished the host nation in all three departments of the game.
Speaking at the post-match ceremony, a disappointed-looking Rohit said his side tried everything but it wasn't meant to be.
"Honestly, the result hasn't gone our way. We weren't good enough today. But I'm proud of how we played from game one. Wasn't our day, we tried everything we could, but just wasn't supposed to be," said Sharma.
"20-30 runs more would have been good, KL and Kohli were stitching a good partnership and we were looking at 270-280 but we kept losing wickets," he added.
The Indian skipper lauded Australia's Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne for putting up a match-winning partnership when it looked like India might stage a comeback.
"When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets but credit to Head and Labuschagne for putting us out of the game, but I feel wicket got slightly better to bat under lights. Don't want to give that as an excuse," said Sharma.
"We didn't put enough runs on the board. Credit to those two guys in the middle for putting up an outstanding partnership."
Cummins silences crowd
Meanwhile, winning skipper Pat Cummins was delighted to silence the 130,000 crowd gathered in the stadium, anticipating an Indian victory.
"I was pretty happy they [crowd] were silent for most of the bowling innings. But fantastic, the passion in India is second to none. You look around, it's a pretty special moment. Whatever the result it was a pretty special day," said Cummins.
Head (137) played the innings of his life by smashing an eloquent century while his partner Labuschagne (58*) did well to soak the pressure and perform the sheet-anchor job to perfection.
In the end, India were relatively outplayed despite bossing the last 10 World Cup games, winning them with calm and assurance. The loss marked another ICC knockout defeat for India as the cricket-mad nation looks towards the 2024 T20 World Cup to end the long-standing drought.
(With inputs from agencies)
