Mumbai: Pacer Mohammed Shami played a key role in India's 70 run win over New Zealand in the first semi final of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and skipper Rohit Sharma was effusive in his praise for the Bengal speedster saying he was brilliant.
India first rode on centuries by Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to post a massive 397/4 and then bundled out New Zealand for 327 with Shami picking a seven wicket haul and becoming the first Indian bowler to do so in the limited overs cricket.
Shami returned with exceptional figures of 7/57 and etched his name into the record books. It was Shami's brilliance that India stormed back into game, which at one stage looked like was drifting away.
"I have played a lot of cricket here (at the Wankhede), you cannot relax. You got to get the job done as quickly as possible. We knew there'll be pressure on us. We were calm even though we were a bit sloppy on the field. These things are bound to happen, glad that we could get the job done."
"When the scoring rate is above nine, you got to take chances. They gave us chances, we didn't take them., (Daryl) Mitchell and (Kane) Williamson batted brilliantly. We had to stay calm. We knew we had to pull something from our sleeves. We tried everything and Shami was brilliant," Rohit Sharma said at the post match presentation.
Rohit also played a role in the team's win and so did his opening partner Shubman Gill.
"The top five-six batters, they have made it count. Very pleased with what (Shreyas) Iyer has done in this tournament. (Shubman) Gill, the way he batted upfront was brilliant, unfortunately he had to return back. (Virat)!Kohli, as usual, was brilliant, played his trademark innings and got to his landmark. All in all, the batting was superb," added Rohit Sharma.
Rohit did admit that there was pressure on the players.
"Today (on Wednesday), I wouldn't say there was no pressure. Guys were doing the job. We wanted to do what we've been doing in the first nine games. Things came off really nice," signed off Rohit, who laid the foundation of India's massive total.
India, who are unbeaten in the tournament so far, are just one step away from lifting the coveted Silverware and will now head to Ahmedabad to play the summit clash.
India will face either Australia or South Africa in the final to be played on November 19.
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