India's Rohit Sharma shakes hands with teammate India's Hardik Pandya, right, following the T20 World Cup cricket semifinal between England and India in Adelaide. (AP)Not only was captain Rohit Sharma seen in tears in the team dugout after India’s shattering ten-wicket defeat to England in the T20 World Cup semi-final, he could not control his emotions later in the dressing room as well, The Indian Express has learnt. Some of his team-mates had to pacify him. India head coach Rahul Dravid then gave a brief speech, after which Rohit also addressed the team.
The team had played some good cricket and everyone was proud with the amount of hard work put in, Dravid is believed to have said. Rohit was at a loss for words initially. He thanked everyone and he too felt the team had played some good cricket in the last three weeks. Some team members said they had never seen Rohit so down even after many defeats earlier.
The players were busy sorting their luggage when another message came late at night in the team Whatsapp group. Everyone was asked to assemble for a small meeting before departing back home to India or proceeding onwards for the New Zealand tour.
The team management thanked everyone including the two reserve bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur, who had bowled their hearts out in the nets.
Everyone hugged each other.
It has been an emotional end to the team’s journey in the T20 World Cup. The fact that they missed the bus once again in the knockouts of a multi-nation tournament despite having all the resources has hurt them a lot. And after topping their group with four wins in five games, India are back to square one.
Rohit Sharma in tears after India lose to England. (Screengrab/Hotstar) Their ICC trophy shelf has been empty for almost a decade now, since the 2013 Champions Trophy win. It was felt that Rohit would be the man to end the title drought after MS Dhoni. After all, he had delivered five titles for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), so he could probably do it with the India team too. But neither could he improve the team’s dismal recent record in ICC knockout games, his personal performance too was below par in this T20 World Cup, as he could score only one half-century, against Netherlands.
It was a challenging tournament for the team with conditions at the Australian grounds throwing varying challenges at them. They were outplayed by England in the semi-finals and their bowlers had no answer.
Rohit knows that this might be his last T20 World Cup for India. He was part of the India team that had clinched the inaugural World T20 title in 2007 and 15 years later, he was hoping that he would again lift the trophy. But it wasn’t to be.
Meanwhile, the BCCI has decided to send VVS Laxman as the coach of the India team for the New Zealand tour. The support staff will consist of Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Sairaj Bahutule.
Along with Dravid, the current support staff of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey, fielding coach T Dilip and batting coach Vikram Rathour have all been given a rest.
The team couldn’t manage to get tickets on the same flight. They will fly out in batches from Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Rohit and KL Rahul will be the last ones to depart from Down Under.
In New Zealand, Hardik Pandya will lead in the T20Is while Shikhar Dhawan will be captain for the ODI leg with Rohit, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, along with a few others, rested for the tour. Pandya had led India for the Ireland T20Is in June as well.