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‘We Deserved To Lose’ - Rohit Sharma After India’s World Cup 2023 Defeat To Australia

image-lp5prc2zRohit Sharma walking back to the pavilion during the World Cup 2023 final (AP)

India’s ICC title drought is set to continue a little longer as their unbeaten run at the 2023 World Cup was hampered at the final by an insurgent Australian unit. Leading his side on the big day at a near-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma bludgeoned an attacking 31-ball 47 at the top before his dismissal dried up boundaries for his side.

Sharma’s troops eventually had to crawl their way to 240 off their 50 overs, a total easily overhauled by Australia courtesy of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne’s counterpunching partnership.

After the match, the Indian skipper admitted that his team came up short with the bat, and praised Head for taking away the game from the hosts. Sharma also claimed that his side deserved to lose the contest, but expressed his overall admiration for the team for their unbeaten campaign up until the finals.

Rohit Sharma says team deserved to lose final

While speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian captain Rohit Sharma admitted that his side failed to deliver on the big day and blamed team’s batting line-up over their dismal performance at the title clash. The dashing opener paved way for a colossal Indian total with his powerplay bombardment, however, the rest of the batters failed to get going as the ‘Men in Blue’ only managed to chart 240 upfront.

Sharma claimed that his side fell 20-30 runs short of their intended total and failed to capitalise on Virat Kohli and KL Rahul’s fight partnership in the middle overs. The 36-year-old further praised Australian opener Travis Head and middle-order batter Marnus Labuschagne for their counterattacking approach that sealed the World Cup title from hosts India. He said:

“We were not good enough today. Honestly, we were 20-30 short. Virat, KL batted well and stitched a good partnership but we lost wickets at regular intervals and lost the plot. They did that and stitched a great partnership. We went for wickets in the end at 47/3 but they did bat well and took the game away from us.”

Rohit Sharma added that the surface did improve for batting in the second innings. Assessing India’s performance on the big day, the cricketer claimed that his team deserved to lose the final but expressed his admiration over their overall performance throughout the 2023 World Cup.

“The wicket got better as the game went on. But that is not an excuse for this loss. We did not bat well enough and deserved to lose the game today. Great campaign and proud of the boys in the end.”