India captain Rohit Sharma dismissed worries about his fitness after taking a short break during the match. In India’s six-wicket win over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy Group A match in Dubai, it looked like Rohit had hurt his hamstring. He was seen straining while fielding and even left the field briefly during Pakistan’s innings. At the award ceremony, when asked about his hamstring, the 37-year-old simply said he was “okay.”
Virat Kohli was the standout performer of the day. He reached his 51st ODI century with a match-winning shot, helping India get closer to the semifinals. Even though the bowlers played a great role by dismissing Pakistan for 241, Kohli’s performance stole the show.
Rohit praised his teammate, saying, “Virat loves playing for our country and did what he does best today. Our team was not surprised by his performance.” With Virat needing just a few more runs to complete his century, Rohit was seen encouraging him to hit a few big shots.
Rohit also appreciated the entire team. He said, “We started very well with our bowling. We knew the pitch might slow down later, so we trusted our experienced batsmen to score 240 runs. Credit goes to Kuldeep, Axar, and Jadeja for their great work. Rizwan and Saud Shakeel put up a good stand, and we must not forget the contributions of Shami, Hardik Pandya, and Harshit Rana. Every player did what was needed.” He added that sometimes it is tricky as not everyone gets a chance to bowl, but he always tries to choose the one causing the most trouble for the batsmen.
On the other side, Pakistan captain Muhammad Rizwan said that bad shot selection hurt their chances. “We won the toss, but we did not benefit from it. Their bowlers bowled very well. Saud Shakeel and I wanted to hit more, but our shots were not well chosen and we lost wickets, which is why we managed only 240 runs,” Rizwan said. He also pointed out that Pakistan needs to improve their fielding, as they made several mistakes.
With this loss, Pakistan is now at risk of being knocked out of the tournament.
In the match, Shubman Gill was dismissed for 46 runs by spinner Abrar Ahmed. Abrar said he did not regret getting Gill out and stressed that his job was to keep discipline on the field. He finished with figures of 1/28 in 10 overs. Abrar also mentioned that batting in the second innings was easier because the pitch helped the batsmen more compared to the first innings.
When asked about the disappointment of losing to their traditional rivals again, Abrar added, “Only Allah knows what lies in store for us.”
