Rohit Sharma praises Virat Kohli after India's win against New Zealand in the 21st match of the World Cup 2023 on Sunday, October 22. Virat Kohli continued his red-hot form with another sensational knock of 95 runs at Dharamsala's HPCA Stadium and guided India to their fifth straight win in the tournament.
Mohammed Shami also made a big impact with five wickets in his first game of World Cup 2023 and claimed the Player of the Match award. Shami's heroics helped India bowl out New Zealand on 273 runs while bowling first. Then Kohli produced his fourth fifty-plus score of the tournament with sensational batting.
The Men in Blue struggled for the dominance they displayed in their first four games but Kohli's knock was enough to secure them a four-wicket win. Rohit praised his teammate for another crucial knock while chasing and during crunch situations and also highlighted a stunning spell from Mohammed Shami.
"Good start to the tournament but job is half done," Rohit said after the game. "Shami took the opportunity with both hands. He's got class and so much experience and he used the conditions really well. At one stage NZ put up a big partnership there. Dew came in as well. But we have to give credits to the bowlers in the back end. Shubman and I compliment each other quite well in the middle. Couldn't get big enough runs ourselves but happy to win. Nothing much to say about Virat. We've seen him do this for so many years. He backs himself to do the job. Towards the end there was a bit of pressure with a few wickets lost, but Kohli and Jadeja took us home.
"Fielding is something we pride ourselves on. It wasn't as clinical as we'd like to. Couple of dropped catches but those guys are good, Jadeja is among the best in the game. We love travelling and playing in different parts of the country. So far we have not been disappointed and we have not disappointed the crowd as well."
PM Narendra Modi on India's win over New Zealand:
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
New Zealand Playing XI: Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c & wk), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
More to follow...
