India vs England, World Cup 2023: Rohit Sharma hails Men in Blue for showing 'lot of character' in Lucknow

India captain Rohit Sharma hailed his team for showing “character” in their 100-run victory over England in their ICC World Cup match in Lucknow on Sunday.

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The Men in Blue maintained their undefeated run in the ongoing World Cup with their sixth victory in as many outings, but had to come out of the comfort zone in doing so. India not only set a target for the first time in the tournament but were also seriously challenged by the English attack, getting restricted to 229/9.

The bowling department however, responded brilliantly to the challenge of defending what initially looked like a sub-par total. Pacers Mohammed Shami (4/22), Jasprit Bumrah (3/32) and left-arm spinners Kuldeep Yadav (2/24) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/16) hunted in a pack to bowl England out for a meagre 129, condemning them to a fifth defeat in six outings.

“I think this was a game where we showed a lot of character. All the experienced players stood up at the right time and won us the game. Looking at how the tournament has gone for us, batting second in the first five games and then we had to bat first here, we were challenged.

“We knew the pitch had something in it and we had the experience in our bowling, so we wanted to get to a decent total,” Rohit said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Our seamers exploited the conditions very well, there was swing and lateral movement available. We have got a good balance there (in the bowling unit). A couple of good spinners and seamers bringing in their experience. When you have a bowling line-up like that, it’s important that the batters give them something to work with, and show their magic,” Rohit added.

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Shami and Bumrah ran through the English top-four to reduce them to 39/4 inside the powerplay. Kuldeep and Jadeja would tighten the noose even further in the middle overs, with the former extracting a decent amount of turn on the Ekana surface that had plenty of wear and tear on it.

The spinners kept chipping away, not allowing any of the partnerships to blossom, and it was only a matter of time before the beleaguered Englishmen, who are going through one of the worst campaigns in a major event, collapsed like a house of cards.

Earlier, Rohit led from the front with a fighting 87 in difficult batting conditions, stitching important partnerships with KL Rahul (39) and Suryakumar Yadav (49) that helped India go past the 200-mark after a shaky start.

Rohit went into rebuilding mode after the Men in Blue lost three wickets with just 40 on the board, and would go on to bring up his third fifty-plus score of the ongoing campaign and would later come within touching distance of an eighth World Cup hundred. Surya too would miss out on a maiden World Cup fifty in only his second appearance later in the Indian innings.

“After the first 10 overs, it was important to stitch a partnership. You have to play the situation as well and not just play your shots. If you have that experience, you should use it. But I still thought we were 20-30 runs short.

“The new ball was a bit challenging and as the game went on, the ball got softer and it was not easy to rotate strike,” Rohit, who was adjudged the Player of the Match in a game dominated by bowlers from both sides, said after the victory.

For England skipper Jos Buttler, meanwhile, it was “the same old story” of disappointment, especially on the batting front.

“At the halfway stage, chasing 230, we would have fancied ourselves. Same old story. Very disappointed.

“It was a great start in the powerplay by the bowlers, the guys found some movement. The ground fielding was good. But the way we batted, we didn’t back that up,” a dejected Buttler said in the post-match interview.