Rohit Sharma has revealed that he was going through tense moments during India’s pulsating showdown against South Africa in the final of the T20I World Cup in 2024 at Kensington Oval, Barbados. India, who won the toss and decided to bat, struggled to score runs after losing key players early in the innings. Reliable players Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav fell cheaply, scoring 0 and 3 runs, respectively. Even skipper Rohit Sharma managed to score 9 off 5 balls.

Amidst the high-pressure huddle, veteran star Virat Kohli stepped in to play a key role, scoring a composed 76 off 59 to power India to a fighting total of 176/7 in 20 overs. Shivam Dubey and Axar Patel also played their key roles, contributing 47 and 27, respectively. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma lauded Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli for calming the nerves in the dressing room with his highly effective and composed knock. 

“If you hit three boundaries in the first over, then you’ve started well. That’s what every cricketer wants. The experience of playing for India for so many years helps. You can control your emotions, control your thoughts, and stay in the moment,” Rohit told JioCinema. 

“I’m sure he was thinking the same: ‘Today is the day I need to be focused.’ Not worrying about what happened before. And he played a brilliant innings. A fantastic partnership with Axar. After losing those three wickets up front, there were obviously a lot of nerves in the dressing room. I was panicking. I wasn’t comfortable. I thought we’d let them into the game. Of course, in the back of my mind, I always believed our lower middle order, although it hadn’t batted much during the tournament, had made an impact whenever given the opportunity,” Rohit said. 

Rohit Sharma also praised Axar Patel’s crucial innings. 

“Not many people are talking about Axar’s knock, but it was the game-changer. Scoring 47 off 31 at that stage was vital. And we needed one player to bat through the innings—Virat did that brilliantly,” Rohit added.