India captain Rohit Sharma was ecstatic with his team's "near perfect" win over the Netherlands but "not too happy" about his own 53-run knock in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 match in Sydney on Thursday. (More Cricket News)
Rohit had four hits to the fence and three maximums in his 39-ball innings as India posted 179 for two and then limited the Netherlands to 123 for nine for a 56-run win.
India had scored 32 in the powerplay after losing opener KL Rahul, but Rohit and Kohli added 73 runs off 56 runs.
"Not too happy with my fifty," said Rohit, who was dropped by Tim Pringle in the fifth over bowled by Fred Klaassen.
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"But what's important is getting runs - doesn't matter if they are good-looking runs or ugly runs. At the end of the day, it is about keeping the confidence up," Rohit said at the post-match presentation.
It was only his third T20 fifty in 2022 and the innings helped set the platform as Virat Kohli (62) and Suryakumar Yadav (51) lifted the team to a good total.
"I thought it was a clinical win. Looking at the way they have qualified for the Super 12s, credit to them. We, however, always looked to what we can do with ourselves, not bother about the opposition. To be honest, this was a near-perfect win," he said.
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"Yes, we played a little slow at the start, but that was the conversation between me and Virat, we had to wait on that surface to play the big shots."
Netherlands captain Scott Edwards admitted the stand between Kohli and Surya was the difference between the two sides.
"We came here to win and put on a good performance, but against these sort of sides you have to be on the money or they make you pay. The way those two batters played in the end and took them to 180, it was always going to be tricky," he said.
"We bowled reasonably well, but if you don't get the wickets and with the batting order they have, it was always going to be tough to restrict them."
Suryakumar, who was adjudged the Player of the Match for his whirlwind 51 off 25 balls, said: "I was just trying to express myself when I went in to bat. The situation was very simple, I just had to up the tempo at that time.
"I took one ball today (to get going), but the message was loud and clear. We had to get about 8-10 an over and get a total which our bowlers could defend easily. Very happy with the way things went."
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Kohli and Surya once again produced a scintillating partnership, adding an unbeaten 95 off 48 balls.
"Really enjoying batting with him (Kohli), the thoughts are very clear when we both are batting. If I get few boundaries earlier then our partnership needs to be stretched and that's what we are doing."
India will play South Africa next on Sunday in Perth.
