World Cup Final: Sachin Tendulkar comes to India's aid, consoles emotional Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli
World Cup Final: Tendulkar comes to India's aid, consoles Rohit and Virat Photograph:( X )
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World Cup Final: Sachin Tendulkar came to India's aid following the shattering loss and was seen consoling the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during the post-match ceremony.
World Cup Final: Sachin Tendulkar came to India's aid following the shattering loss and was seen consoling the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during the post-match ceremony.
India lost to Australia by six wickets in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup final on Sunday (Nov 19) at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. Being asked to bat first, India rode on captain Rohit Sharma's 47 (31), Virat Kohli's 54 and KL Rahul's 66 to post a below-par 240 in 50 overs. In reply, Pat Cummins-led Aussies rode on Travis Head's majestic 137 and Marnus Labuschagne's 58* to win in 43 overs.
After the game, emotions were high as Indian players were shattered after missing out on winning an ICC title at home. India were excellent throughout the competition, winning ten games on the trot, before falling apart in the final. Thus, the likes of Rohit, Virat and many others were emotional and carried a dejected face at the post-match award ceremony. Just then, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar -- Global Ambassador for the mega event -- came to the players' aid and consoled Rohit & Co.
Tendulkar met each and every Indian player who was waiting for the commencement of the award ceremony and went to coach Dravid, Kohli, and Rohit as well. He was later seen having a brief chat with skipper Rohit.
At the post-match presentation, a dejected Rohit opened up on the loss in the summit clash. He said, "The result has not gone our way. We were not good enough today. We tried everything but it wasn't supposed to be. 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. When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets but credit to Head and Labuschagne who stitched together a big partnership and put us completely out of the game. We tried everything we could but I feel wicket got slightly better to bat under lights. Don't want to give that as an excuse."
Head-Labuschagne stitched a match-winning 192-run fourth-wicket stand after Australia were reeling at 47 for 3 in a chase of 241. The pair gave India no chance to come back into the contest with Head dominating every bowler whereas Labuschagne held one end firmly.
This became Australia's sixth ODI WC triumph and their men's team's 10th ICC title overall.
