Rohit Sharma, who was made the captain of the Indian team with the eye on the T20 World Cup, was left teary-eyed after the team crashed out, before he was consoled by head coach Rahul Dravid.
England openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales put on an authoritative show at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday as they crushed India by 10 wickets to book their seats in the final of the T20 World Cup. India were hence denied yet another opportunity to make the finals of an ICC event since the 2017 Champions Trophy and subsequently adding to their streak of trophy-less run in ICC tournaments since 2013. Rohit Sharma, who was made the captain of the Indian team with the eye on the T20 World Cup, was left teary-eyed after the team crashed out before being consoled by head coach Rahul Dravid.
India’s top-three struggled considerably on Thursday on the Adelaide pitch despite Virat Kohli scoring his fourth half-century. In the first 10 overs, India managed only 62 runs for the loss of two wickets, laced with six boundaries and a six. Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 63 provided some respite for India, but the total of 168 for six was never enough given the conditions. England openers responded in top-class fashion, their pyrotechnics leaving Indian attack clueless, as they stitched a record 170-run stand to beat the 2007 champions by 10 wickets.
After the defeat, the cameras panned towards the Indian dugout, where a distraught India captain Rohit was spotted sitting all by himself. With his heads down, Rohit covered his face with his hands before he was spotted wiping his eyes, indicating that the India captain was indeed left teary-eyed. He engaged in a small discussion with Rishabh Pant, who was sitting in the row ahead of him, but overall wore a devastated look on his face.
Rohit was then approached by Dravid, who sat next to him for a while and spoke to him hoping to motivate him. Dravid patted Rohit on his shoulders repeatedly before taking off, but it didn’t work. A heartbroken Rohit sat there a little longer and was visibly an emotional wreck. As the cameras were taken off him, Rohit once again covered his face before lifting himself to go and attend the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Pretty disappointed how it turned up today. We batted well at the backend to get that score. We were not upto the mark with the ball, we couldn’t turn up today. It’s all about handling the pressure in knockout games. All these guys have played enough to understand that,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.
The Rohit-Dravid combination took charge after India’s exit in last year’s T20 World Cup with a eye on winning this one. The Indian team went on a rampage in the last one year, registering bilateral series victories one after the other but stumbled when it mattered the most. Hence, this defeat will certainly be a tough pill to swallow for both.
