Asia Cup 2022: We couldn’t close the game with our batting – Rohit Sharma

Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted that they couldn’t close the game with their batting in the clash against Sri Lanka in the Super Four contest at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Tuesday after they lost by six wickets.

India posted 173 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Dasun Shanaka. The Men in Blue scored 44-2 in the PowerPlay overs but the two early wickets didn’t stop Rohit Sharma from playing an attacking game. India were 110-2 after 12 overs but failed to add the finishing touches.

Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Deepak Hooda could not get going as India managed only 64 runs off just 48 balls. The Rohit Sharma-led team kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it led to their downfall.

“The way we batted in the first 6 overs, we couldn’t score as many as we wanted to because we lost wickets. After that we got a bit of momentum and then after that we should’ve capitalised well. After the 7-8 overs after PowerPlay (from over number 7 to 12 or 13), we couldn’t close the game with our batting,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference.

“But these things happen. We were talking about it in our team meeting yesterday, how well we’ve played at the death and in the middle. So it happens sometimes that the way you want to play and the situation you want to put your team in doesn’t materialise. I felt we were 10-12 runs short,” Rohit added.

Rohit Sharma feels 173 runs was still a decent score but Sri Lanka had put their noses in front as their openers added 97 runs. However, the Indian spinners were able to get their team back in the contest.

“175 was still a decent score to defend, not that it was really small or gets chased easily. We’ve seen in this ground that even if you start well and take wickets in the middle overs, then there’s a chance. After the way they batted at the start today, got 55 in the PowerPlay (57/0) and even after that the next 3-4 overs, they scored heavily and put us under pressure. But our spinners came and gave us hope but eventually we couldn’t close the game,” Rohit said.

The Indian skipper added that they are not going to hit the panic buttons after two losses as they have been playing consistently since the last T20 World Cup.

“We don’t worry after two defeats. In our dressing room, we don’t talk like that because we’ve played so many matches after the last world cup and won so many games. These two matches we’ve lost back to back, but I don’t think there’s a point of worry. Experienced players also get out, experienced players also go for runs. I don’t think we should worry about it. Because Bhuvi has been playing for so many years, and has done his job at the death, won so many games for us so we shouldn’t judge him by one or two games,” Rohit said.