'Fifties and hundreds don't matter in T20s' - Rohit Sharma takes a sly dig at Virat Kohli

The Rohit Sharma-led India National Cricket Team played their second match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 stage against the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led Bangladesh National Cricket Team at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday, June 22.

The high-flying India entered into the match against the Bangla Tigers with a lot of momentum on their side as they were unbeaten in their previous T20 World Cup 2024 matches.

The Rohit Sharma-led side had crushed Ireland, Pakistan, USA in Group Stage and Afghanistan in the Super 8 stage before facing off against the Asian rivals. While Team Bangladesh had lost 2 out of their last 5 matches, including the one against Australia in the Super 8 stage.

Not only this, but India also had an upper hand over the Bangladesh Team in terms of head-to-head record in T20I cricket as out of 13 matches, India had won 12 and the Tigers were victorious in just one game.

That game came way back in November 2019 and it was the first T20I of the series, which was part of the Bangladesh tour of India. India delivered a below-par performance with the bat in the game and could only manage 148/6 - the total that Bangladesh comprehensively chased down to win the match by a margin of 7 wickets.

Coming back to the IND vs BAN T20 World Cup 2024 clash, India got what they wanted as they were invited to bat first. All the batters played with great intent and helped the side reach 196/5. The Indian batters didn't care about any milestones in the innings and kept hitting even after losing wickets. Hardik Pandya (50), Virat Kohli (37), Rishabh Pant (36), Shivam Dube (34) and Rohit Sharma (23) did a great job and put the opposition team under pressure.

Overall we were good with bat and ball - Rohit Sharma

With the ball, the Men In Blue were absolutely top-notch and they didn't let Bangladesh build any momentum throughout the 20 overs. The bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals and reduced the Tigers to 146/8, winning by 50 runs. Kuldeep Yadav (3), Jasprit Bumrah (2), Arshdeep Singh (2) and Hardik Pandya (1) were among the wickets for India.

Speaking after the match, India captain Rohit Sharma talked about the aggressive batting approach of the Indian team and said:

"I have been talking about this for a long time now. It's about going there and putting that to work. Considering everything we played really well, and adapted to the conditions. There's a little bit of wind factor here, overall we are very smart, overall we were good with bat and ball. All eight batters need to play their role, whatever it is."

Rohit Sharma also shared his bold views on T20 cricket, saying that the milestones don't matter at all and it's just about putting pressure on the opposition bowlers. Many felt Rohit took a sly dig at Virat Kohli with this statement. Rohit Sharma stated:

"We saw one guy get 50 and we got 197, in T20 I don't believe we need to get fifties and hundreds, what matters is the pressure you put on the bowlers. All the batters from the word go played like that and that's how we want to play as well. There is a lot of experience in the squad and we back them."

In the end, Rohit Sharma spoke about Hardik Pandya and he was all praise for the champion all-rounder. The Indian captain said that the all-rounder is an important player and him doing well puts India in a good position. Rohit Sharma said:

"[on Hardik] I mentioned in the last game as well, him batting well puts us in a good stead. We want to finish well after the top 5, 6and , Hardik being Hardik we know what he is capable of. He is a very important player for us, if he can keep doing that, it will put us in good positions. Excitement and if we discuss something with the bowler and when it comes off, it's nice. Everyone when it came to our bowling adapted well and we discussed those things and they did well."

Now after the conclusion of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 match between the India National Cricket Team and Bangladesh National Cricket Team, the head-to-head record stands at IND 13- BAN 1.