‘Playing Cricket Here Wasn’t Easy’: Rohit Sharma Admits After Beating USA In New York

India staved off a firm challenge by the USA to eke out a seven-wicket win in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday. Riding on Arshdeep’s career-best 4/9, India restricted the USA to 110 but made heavy weather of an easy chase on a challenging track. After the match, India captain Rohit Sharma admitted it wasn’t easy playing on a two-paced newly-laid drop-in pitch at Nassau County ground. Chasing a modest target, India’s batting lineup stumbled initially by losing early wickets. Despite the initial hiccups, Rohit commended his team’s resilience.

“We 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 maturity and taking us through,” Rohit said after the match.

“Being in the Super Eight is a big relief — playing cricket here wasn’t easy (as) it could have been anyone’s game. We had to stick through till the end in all three games. We will take a lot of confidence from these wins,” he added.

Praising Suryakumar Yadav for his well-timed fifty, the Indian captain said, “He showed he has a different game from him, and that’s what you expect from experienced players. Credit to the way he stuck through today to take the game deep and win it for us.”

Rohit also spoke about using Shivam Dube as a part-time bowler and said, “You want options, and we should be able to use them as and when we can. Today, the pitch favoured the seamers so we wanted to use him.”

“(A) lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress. Saw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys,” Rohit said while talking about USA cricketers.

Applauding the efforts by the USA cricketers, Sharma said,”A lot of these guys have played cricket together, very happy to see their progress. Saw them last year in MLC as well, they are all hard-working guys.”