Rohit Sharma puts win against Pakistan in perspective: ‘It’s not okay if we beat Pakistan and do not win World Cup’

“The stadium was beautiful. When we reached the ground for the first time, there was a trophy unveiling ceremony, and that’s when I saw the ground for the first time. We were not allowed to train inside the stadium as there was no practice facility,” said Rohit to Star Sports.

“We could take the feeling of the ground only when we got to play the match. From first glance, Kaafi grand stadium lag raha tha (The stadium looked pretty grand). It was an open stadium, the seating arrangements were good, basically, it was a makeshift stadium. So the things you expect in a normal venue, you won’t get there,” he added.

Speaking on the tricky pitch of New York, Rohit said, “We played three matches there and we could not figure out what the good total at that venue, where to place the shots, what are the scoring areas, what lines to bowl as a bowler, although it was a bowlers’ friendly pitch. So the first thing we did in our group talks was we completely took the pitch out of the equation.”

Rohit then runs through the whole India vs Pakistan match, giving the reasoning for his decision. Rohit said India wanted Pakistan to chase. India were bundled out for just 119 in 19 overs, where Rishabh Pant scored 42 off 31.

Asked if there was any advice for Rishabh Pant after Virat Kohli fell early. Rohit said, “Nhi, nhi nhi… kuch advice nahi tha (No, there was no advice for him). We just wanted Rishabh to be Rishabh. Do all these kinds of things and try and put the bowlers off, and he did that perfectly. His 42 was more like the 70, considering the conditions.”

While defending, Rohit admitted that he felt India were 15-20 runs short after the first innings, but this target would look more like 160 if his bowlers picked early wickets. “Mere paas Bumrah ke saath saath Arshdeep bhi hai (Along with Bumrah I had Arshdeep as well),” he said.

India eventually beat Pakistan in a low-scoring humdinger by six runs, but skipper Rohit said it didn’t mean anything more than a win.

“A tick in the box to move ahead in the tournament, nothing else. I know you want to beat Pakistan and there is so much of chatter around it but for us, it’s an opposition and we want to come up against and play well and win. Don’t need to overthink and think if we win against Pakistan, we win the World Cup. It doesn’t work like that,” said Rohit.

“Agar Pakistan ko hara diya aur World Cup nahin jeeta, toh chalega? Nahi chalega (If we beat Pakistan and do not win the World Cup, will it be okay? It’s not okay),” Rohit said.