After losing their first two matches, India registered a thumping 66-run win against Afghanistan to keep their semi-final qualification hopes alive in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday. (More Cricket News)
Rohit Sharma won the player of the match award in India's 66-run win against Afghanistan in their ICC T20 World Cup 2021, Super 12 match.
After losing their first two matches, India registered a thumping 66-run win against Afghanistan to keep their semi-final qualification hopes alive in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday. (More Cricket News)
Rohit Sharma, who won the player of the match award for his blistering knock, said after the match that two bad games don't make India a bad team.
"It didn't happen in two games but that doesn't mean that we have become bad players overnight. If you have two bad games, it doesn't mean that all players are bad, those who are running the team are bad, you reflect and you comeback and that's what we did in this game," the vice-captain said after the match in Abu Dhabi.
Rohit hit 74 off 47 runs to help India post a mammoth total of 210/2, then the bowlers restricted Afghanistan to 144/7 to not only pocket crucial two points but improve the net run rate.
India, who suffered humiliating defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand, are still not out of the woods though. They not only need to produce similar performances in their two remaining matches against Scotland and Namibia but also need other results Super 12 to go their way.
Talking about India's performances in the first two Group 2 matches, Rohit conceded that India were not great even though the team is still one the best in the world.
"In these situations, you have to stay fearless and not think about what is happening elsewhere. We are a very good team but just that we were not great on that particular day against Pakistan and also against New Zealand. The game that we played sums it up that this is what we get when we play fearlessly," he added.
He also made no bones about the fact that some of the "decision making" during the first two games was a result of fatigue that has set in after being on the road for a long time.
"The approach was different. I wish it was in the first two games as well but it didn't happen. But that can happen when you are on the road for a long time. Decision making sometimes can be a problem and that's exactly what happened in the first two games," Rohit said at the post-match press conference.
He then elaborated how decision making can be affected if the mind is not fresh as people are expected to make correct decision whenever they are on the field.
"The amount of cricket that is being played and amount of cricket we are playing, every time you step onto the field, you have to make the right decision," Rohit said.
"You need to ensure that you are fresh in terms of mental aspect. May be that's the reason why we didn't take some good decisions. When you play a lot of cricket, these kind of things keep happening. You need to get away from the game and freshen up your mind.
"But when you play the World Cup, your full focus should be on the World Cup, you should know what you need to do and what you don't," he said, putting things in perspective.
(With PTI Inputs)