"We don't want to..." - Rohit Sharma drops colossal remark on T20 World Cup semi-final against England

Rohit Sharma's India National Cricket Team were seen in action in the 51st match of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 against the Mitchell Marsh-led Australia National Cricket Team at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia on Monday, June 24.

The high-flying India headed into the match against Australia National Cricket Team with high confidence as they won their previous Super 8 matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in a dominant fashion and they also had a 3-2 edge over their arch-nemesis in T20 World Cup history. Also, the Men In Blue finished the group stage of the competition, having won all 3 matches that they competed in.

This was the first time these two teams were facing off each other in the ICC T20 World Cup since 2016. In that 2016 T20 World Cup game, India beat Australia by 6 wickets and 5 balls remaining in Mohali on March 27.

Batting first, Australia managed to post 160/6 on the board riding on good batting performances from Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, and Usman Khawaja. For the Indian team, Hardik Pandya (2), Yuvraj Singh (1), Ravichandran Ashwin (1), Jasprit Bumrah (1) and Ashish Nehra (1) were among the wickets.

During the run-chase, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were not able to provide a good start to Team India and were dismissed for low scores. However, Virat Kohli showed a batting masterclass in the match and played an absolutely sensational knock despite not getting much support from the other batters.

The modern-day batting great smashed the Aussie bowlers all over the park and registered 82 runs off 51 balls. His innings was studded with 9 fours and 2 sixes and he also bagged the Player of the Match award for his heroics.

Coming back to the IND vs AUS T20 World Cup 2024 clash, India posted a huge total of 205/5 on the board, thanks to the sensational batting performance from skipper Rohit Sharma. After India lost Virat Kohli for a duck, Rohit Sharma took charge and played an attacking brand of cricket. He finished his innings with 92 runs while Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and Hardik Pandya also made decent contributions.

I told you that 50s and 100s don't matter to me - Rohit Sharma

While defending the total, India dismissed David Warner for 6 but Travis Head, who loves batting against the Men In Blue, once again gave a major scare to the team. Head smashed 76 runs and took the game deep. He was finally dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in the 17th over and the wicket completely shifted the match in India's favour. For India, Arshdeep Singh (3), Kuldeep Yadav (2), Jasprit Bumrah (1), and Axar Patel (1) shined with the ball and restricted Australia to 181/7 to help their side win by 24 runs.

Speaking after winning the Player of the Match award, Rohit Sharma stated that he just did what was required for the team with the bat. The Indian captain also reiterated the fact that he doesn't care about milestones and it's just about putting the bowlers under pressure. Rohit Sharma elaborated:

"I told you that 50s and 100s don't matter to me. Need to put the bowlers under pressure, and you need big scores for that. I tried to access all sides of the field, not just one side."

While talking about the performance of the team, Rohit Sharma said that he was quite satisfied that they got the job done because 200 wasn't a safe total considering the conditions that were on the offer. Rohit Sharma asserted:

"Satisfying. We know the opposition and the threat they bring. As a team we did well, kept doing the things we needed to do. Gives us good confidence as a team. 200 is a good score but when you are playing here with wind being a big factor, anything can happen. But I think we used to conditions really well, and it was about individuals doing their job. If was about getting wickets at the right time."

When asked about Kuldeep Yadav, Rohit Sharma showered rich praise on the wrist-spinner and said that they knew that he would deliver in the West Indies. Rohit Sharma said:

"(On Kuldeep) We know the strength he has, but we need to use him when necessary. In New York, there were seamer friendly wickets. He had to miss out but we knew he had a big role to play out here."

At last Rohit Sharma talked about the semi-final match against England and said that they want to do what has been working for them and play freely instead of worrying about the opposition. Rohit Sharma said:

"(On semi-final) We don't want to do anything different, play the same way and understand what each person has to do. Play freely and not think too much on what's lying ahead. Not think about the opposition. We have been doing it consistently, just need to continue. (On playing England in semi) It will be a nice match, nothing changes for us as a team.."