T20 World Cup
\n NEW YORK
\nIndia skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday admitted it wasn\u2019t easy playing on a two-paced newly-laid drop-in pitch at Nassau County ground and the team had to stick through till the end to notch up wins in each of their three matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
\nIndia recorded the highest successful chase at this venue when they scored 111-3 in reply to USA\u2019s 110-8 after Arshdeep Singh (4-9), Suryakumar Yadav (50 not out) and Shivam Dube (31) played key roles.
\n\u201cWe knew it would be tough. Credit to us for the way we held our nerve and got that partnership. Credit to Surya and Dube for showing the maturity and taking us through,\u201d Sharma said after the match.
\nThe skipper seemed relieved more than happy that they have crossed the first hurdle at the global meet.
\n\u201cBeing in the Super Eight is a big relief playing cricket here wasn\u2019t easy (as) it could have been anyone\u2019s game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to stick through till the end in all three games. We will take a lot of confidence from these wins.\u201d
\nThe Indian captain had praise for each of the three key performers while applauding Yadav for changing his aggressive approach to anchor the chase.
\n\u201cHe (Yadav) showed he has a different game to him, that\u2019s what you expect from experienced players,\u201d noted Sharma. \u201cCredit to the way he stuck through today to take the game deep and win it for us.
\n\u201cWe knew bowlers had to take the lead (as) run scoring was difficult. All the bowlers did the job, particularly Arshdeep.\u201d
\nSharma believed said since seamers were expected to dominate, the team decided to give Dube a chance to roll over his arm too.
\n\u201cYou want options and we should be able to use them as and when we can,\u201d he observed. \u201cToday, the pitch favoured the seamers so wanted to use him,
\nSharma was also full of praise for the USA players, a number of whom the right-hander was familiar with ahead of the T20 showpiece.
\n\u201c(A) lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress,\u201d he said. \u201cSaw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys.\u201d
\nHaving produced the best T20I figures for India, Arshdeep said he wanted to make full use of a seam-friendly surface.
\n\u201cIn the last two games, I gave away little more runs, (and I) wasn\u2019t happy with that,\u201d said the left-armer. \u201cThe team always shows belief in me and keep backing me, I had to deliver for them.
\n\u201cThe wicket is very conducive to fast bowlers and it\u2019s helping us get some seam movement. The plan was simple, pitch it in the wicket and let the ball do the talking. Don\u2019t give easy balls to score, our batsmen are also facing difficulties to score runs.\u201d
\nUSA\u2019s stand-in skipper Aaron Jones, meanwhile, felt his side were competitive but fell a few runs short.
\n\u201c(We were) 10-15 runs short,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we got 130 then it would have been a tough total, that\u2019s how it goes sometimes.
\n\u201cThe boys were very disciplined, really proud of the bowling unit. (It) feels good, this is what we wanted for USA cricket, enjoying it. We will recalibrate now, have a few meetings and come back strong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
T20 World Cup NEW YORK India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday admitted it wasn\u2019t easy playing on a two-paced newly-laid drop-in pitch at Nassau County ground and the team had to stick through till the end to notch up wins in each of their three matches in the ongoing T20 World Cup. India recorded the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-413024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n