Mumbai: India reached their third successive Champions Trophy final after a dominant semifinal victory over Australia. That Team India ended the group stage of the tournament unbeaten only adds to the impressiveness of this feat. After the victory, Captain Rohit Sharma shared what strategy the team adopted that helped them win.
India’s four-pronged spin attack was led by Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya among the pacers for the all-important clash. Rohit said that he wanted to pick six bowling options in the squad without dropping on batting depth.
The side went for the 6+5 combination, which meant five specialist batters at the top with all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel following them to provide depth in the batting order. India chased down 265 runs to win the match by six wickets with 11 balls remaining, powered by a brilliant 84-run knock from Virat Kohli along with key contributions from Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya.
After the match, Rohit Sharma said, “I knew that I wanted six bowling options in the team and still keep the batting deep till number eight. We had conversations about it as we were picking the squad, and all the credit goes to everyone who has been part of the whole team’s preparation. It was a good score and a competitive one, so we had to bat well, and we did. The good pitch allowed us to play with a cool head. We always try to play good cricket, and there is no point in thinking too much about the conditions,’ he said.
With such a decisive knock, the match also belonged to Virat Kohli, and thus the captain couldn’t stop gushing about the star. “For so many years has Virat been doing this for us. We were confident in him. Virat and Shreyas’ stand was important, and Hardik’s finishing hits were significant as well. Having all your players firing ahead of a final is a good thing for confidence. We won’t be too bothered by who we might end up playing—we only want the boys to stay calm and composed, said Rohit.
India will now meet New Zealand or South Africa in the final on 9 March. Dubai is set to host the championship clash—a move that seems to be influenced by India’s qualification. The match would have been played in Pakistan had Australia made it to the final.