India captain Rohit Sharma used as many as nine bowlers, including himself, after giving the Dutch side a lofty mark of 411. In the ODI World Cup 2023 final league stage match played in Bengaluru on Sunday, November 12, India easily defeated the Netherlands by a margin of 160 runs. With this victory, India increased their tournament-winning run to 9-0. They will now prepare for their match against New Zealand in the first semi-final on Wednesday, November 15, in Mumbai.
Part-timers Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli were observed bowing throughout the one-sided match. Following the game, Rohit Sharma gave an explanation for his decision to explore a variety of options.
“When you have five bowlers, it’s something you think about constantly. You want to give the squad those alternatives, and I believe we now have them. We were given nine alternatives today. It is significant. In this particular game, we had the option to try several things. When it wasn’t necessary, the seamen would go out and bowl those broad yorkers. However, we wanted to attempt something different as a team and as a bowling unit to see what we could do “Rohit Sharma stated during the presentation.
Following Hardik Pandya’s injury, Rahul Dravid is pleased with the players’ reaction.
Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur, two seam-bowling all-rounders from India, entered the main tournament. In the first few matches, they participated as India’s two starting pacers, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, were introduced. Following Hardik’s injury during the match against Bangladesh, which prevented him from participating in the ODI World Cup 2023, the “Men in Blue” changed up their lineup, inserting Mohammed Shami as the third front-line bowler.
“We always constructed the team with the understanding that we required six different options for bowling and worked to increase the squad’s depth. Given that he provided you with that balance, Hardik was undoubtedly a crucial piece of that puzzle. Though we only have five bowling options now, I think the way the guys have responded after we lost him has given Rohit a lot of confidence. They are all bowling pretty well and doing incredibly well. After nine years, he [Kohli] did take a wicket as well, so we could give him some credit,” India’s coach Rahul Dravid said on Star Sports.
“We have seven excellent batters, which makes a great difference, but the way our middle order has batted suggests that, hopefully, our lower order can contribute if needed. Because of this, we had to maybe resort to our backup plan in the absence of Pandya, the all-around player, but the way we responded and performed in the final five games was outstanding. It instills great confidence in us ahead of the semifinal. It allowed us to sort of mix and match and look at some of the other possibilities that we could need, even though we hope not, after they scored the big one.” Dravid stated
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