We tried everything we could from our side: Rohit Sharma

India were out-batted, out-bowled, and out-fielded by Australia in the 2023 World Cup final and skipper Rohit Sharma didn’t shy away from accepting that. The Men in Blues won 10 games but lost the one that mattered in Ahmedabad on Sunday (November 19).

India lost the game in the first innings, where they were bundled out for 240. Rohit once again got India off to a rapid start but the other failed to step up. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer added eight runs between them, while Virat Kohli and KL Rahul scored fifties but couldn’t carry on. 

"We tried everything we could from our side. But yeah, it wasn't supposed to be. I mean 20-30 more runs would have been good. We spoke around 25-30 overs when KL and Virat were batting. They were stitching a good partnership there and they just needed to bat as long as possible,” said Rohit after the six-wicket defeat. 

“We were looking at 270-280 at that point, but then we kept losing wickets. We couldn't stitch a big partnership there. And that's exactly what Australia did to win the game. They stitched a big partnership after those three wickets."

Australia lost three wickets inside seven overs but things got much easier once the dew settled in. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne then added 192 runs and took the game away from India. Head smoked 137 off 120 deliveries, while Labuschagne scored a sedate fifty and only left the field once the job was done.

"When you have 240 on the board, you want to take wickets as early as possible and we did that but then again, credit to those two guys in the middle - Travis and Marnus, they stitched up a big partnership and put us completely out of the game. But again, we tried everything we could, you know, but I thought the wicket got slightly better to bat under the lights.

"We knew under the lights, it would be slightly better but again, we don't want to give that as an excuse. We didn't bat well enough to put enough runs on the board. And then with the seamers upfront, we got those three wickets where we thought another wicket can open up the game but again, credit to those two guys in the middle for stretching that big partnership."