Sports
Rohit Sharma: The Indian captain who lost cricket World Cup but won hearts
Millions of Indians cried along with cricket captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday as he walked off the field, trying to hold back his tears.
His team had just lost the cricket World Cup final to Australia, prolonging India’s painful wait for the glory since 2011.
This was arguably his best shot at winning the coveted trophy – he will be 40 years old in 2027, when the tournament will be held next. In theory, Rohit could still play in the next World Cup and give it another try. But the pain of losing at home is likely to linger for a long time.
When India won the trophy in front of an overjoyed crowd in Mumbai in 2011, Rohit was not part of the team. He has been vocal about his disappointment at his exclusion at the time. It would have been poetic justice if he had won on Sunday, not just playing in a home World Cup but also leading his side – that wasn’t meant to be.
But a discussion of just the final will not give you the complete Rohit Sharma story from this World Cup. Look closer and you will see a player who was absolutely sure about his ability to play selfless and fearless cricket in the tournament.
As an opener, he was expected to give his side a flying start and take the wind out of the opposition’s attack. He did that effortlessly. Even in the final, he got off to a fast start. At one point, India were scoring at the rate of 10 runs per over.
Some former Indian cricketers have criticised Rohit for losing his wicket to a rash shot in the finals. They argue that it was the match’s turning point.That may well be true but by then, Rohit had already done what he did in so many matches earlier – he had set up a platform for others to build the innings on. But after he departed, the other batters just choked in front of a spirited and tactical Australia bowling attack.
Let’s rewind a bit.
In the group stages, Pakistan set a target of 191 for India to chase. It looked like a sub-par total but then Pakistan had a dangerous bowling attack including Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali.
Matches between arch-rivals Pakistan and India are a sporting spectacle but they also put players under extreme pressure.
Rohit led from the front and scored a brisk 86 off 63 deliveries, effectively ending Pakistan’s hopes of winning the game. He scored more than 40 runs seven times in the tournament, converting three of them into half-centuries. One could argue that he failed to turn these brisk starts into big scores.
But that would be an oversimplification. As he mentioned in different press conferences, every player in the team had clearly defined roles, and his was to be the destructor.
India didn’t lose any match until the finals and their success hugely relied on Rohit’s spirited starts which allowed time and pace to players like Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer to take the matches deep and put big totals on the board.
Rohit could have easily slowed down after reaching the 40s for bigger scores but that simply wasn’t his role. He was tasked to pace his innings according to the conditions, regardless of where his personal score stood.
India’s dominating batting line-up also allowed him to play freely. He knew that the batters who followed him were more than capable of putting the opposition under pressure.
While Rohit the batter has been a revelation in this tournament, his leadership deserves equal praise. His approach as a batter also inspired his crafty tactics as a captain. He earned the respect and trust of his team-mates and support staff, including head coach Rahul Dravid.
His bowling changes and fielding placements were astute and well-timed. When Pakistan were scoring at a brisk pace, he brought Mohammed Siraj back into the attack. Siraj had previously leaked 76 runs against Afghanistan and failed to pick up a wicket. A good captain knows his strategy well, but a great captain knows his players even better.
Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan had put together a stand of 81and were threatening to take the game away until Siraj broke their partnership.
Rohit also stood firmly behind his players when India were not doing well. He agreed with Dravid’s strategy of believing in the process and not letting results affect the team.
But sporting triumphs don’t happen in a vacuum.
The coach-captain duo worked hard in the background for almost two years with an eye on the World Cup. India entered the final undefeated, a result of their patient and astute planning.
Rohit backed players like Iyer, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav when they were not doing well, and they repaid their captain’s faith with match-winning performances in the World Cup.
The loss in the final would hurt Rohit, his team and Indian cricket fans for a long time. But it takes nothing away from the captain’s achievements.
He truly is the unsung hero of the tournament and could still make it to India’s World Cup squad four years later. It may sound difficult but then sporting glories are all about making impossible dreams come true.
Rohit will surely heal, rebuild and come back stronger because he knows no other way. But for now, the World Cup trophy is still painfully out of his grasp.
(BBC)
Sri Lanka have been hit by a spate of injuries and an illness ahead of the secondbTest against West Indies, in North Sound, a game they must win to take something away from the series after suffering an innings defeat in the first.
The injuries have forced the team management to pick from a squad of 13, rather than the 17 they took on tour. The seam-bowling department has been especially hard hit, with Lahiru Kumara and Vishwa Fernando both going down with injuries.
The most serious injury, however, seems to be that of opener Pathum Nissanka, who left the squad on June 30 to undergo surgery on an injured wrist in the United Kingdom. Lahiru Udara will take Nissanka’s place at the top of the order for the second Test. Nissanka’s surgery casts a cloud over his Lanka Premier League participation as well.
Vishwa, meanwhile, has not sufficiently recovered from back and side pain to become available for the second Test. And Sri Lanka’s quickest bowler in the squad, Kumara, remains unavailable after having walked off the field with a hamstring complaint (a recurring injury) having delivered just one over in the previous Test.
These injuries, plus Kasun Rajitha’s modest performance in the first Test, have paved the way for seamer Isitha Wijesudera’s Test debut.
In addition, offspin-bowling allrounder Ramesh Mendis has contracted a bacterial infection on tour. As such, he is also unavailable for selection. Prabath Jayasuriya – Sri Lanka’s top specialist spinner over the last three years – will enter the XI.
(Cricinfo)
Substitute Goncalo Ramos’s headed goal edged Portugal into the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after a gripping 2-1 win against Croatia.
Ramos connected with a superb pass from Rafael Leao in the fourth minute of stoppage time on Thursday to snuff out a Croatia team that had created the lion’s share of the chances in sapping evening heat in Toronto.
In a dramatic ending, Croatia thought they had equalised in the dying seconds, but Josko Gvardiol’s goal was chalked off for offside.
The Croatians were left stunned by the decision, while Portugal’s players celebrated.
Cristiano Ronaldo played his role in the victory, stroking home a penalty that cancelled out Ivan Perisic’s opener.
It was Ronaldo’s first-ever goal in the knockout phase of the World Cup, and his remarkable international career will have another chapter when Portugal face Spain in Dallas on Monday.
Perisic had stunned the Portuguese by slotting the ball under the advancing Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 53rd minute.
Within minutes, Ronaldo had the ball in the net after controlling a long pass, but his effort was disallowed for offside.
But Portugal got level when Renato Veiga was grabbed by Croatia’s Nikola Vlasic in the penalty area, and after a VAR check, the referee pointed to the spot.
Ronaldo stepped up to convert the penalty with ease, hitting the ball straight down the middle of the goal and pumping his fists with joy afterwards.
In a pulsating game, Manchester City forward Mateo Kovacic’s low shot was pushed onto a post by goalkeeper Costa’s fingertips.
Still, Croatia pushed, and Petar Sucic had the ball in the net, but the assistant referee’s flag was up for a clear offside.
Ronaldo was withdrawn in the 81st minute to allow Ruben Neves to come on.
Croatia continued to create more chances than their opponents, and Mario Pasalic came so close to winning the game with a header at the far post, but it bounced just wide.
But when Ramos connected, the net bulged, and Portugal were through.
(Aljazeera)
Ben Sears has been ruled out of the upcoming series of five ODIs in the West Indies because of an ankle injury. Ben Lister has been called into the 16-man squad as Sears’ replacement and will assemble “over the coming days” with the squad in Guyana, where the first three games will be played.
Sears had experienced some ongoing pain in his ankle since the four-day Test against Ireland in May, and it flared up during the final day of the third Test against England at Trent Bridge, which New Zealand won to take the series 2-1. The decision to withdraw him from the ODIs in the Caribbean and send him home “for further treatment” is “precautionary”, as New Zealand Cricket put it.
Lister, who made his ODI debut in 2023, has featured four times in the format, picking up six wickets. He was in the squad the last time New Zealand played ODIs, away against Bangladesh in April.
Injuries to key fast bowlers have been a major concern for New Zealand in recent times.
Jacob Duffy, who missed the recent Test series in England while on paternity leave, has returned to the ODI squad for the West Indies, but Blair Tickner has had to sit this one out to undergo surgery on his ankle. Senior fast bowlers Will O’Rourke, Kyle Jamieson and Matt Henry have been rested for the series following their heavy workloads during the England Tests.
“Having a stable of fast bowlers is critical and you ask any selectors around the world from any country, you’re going to get the same answer,” Gavin Larsen, New Zealand’s head selector, said on Wednesday. “I’m touching wood here, [but] we are in a reasonably good position at the moment in New Zealand cricket where we’ve got a number of good quality fast bowlers. So the intention, certainly, is to carefully manage those bowlers.
“But look, already you can see off the back of three Test matches against England, you can see the attrition rate. I’m glancing down and seeing four names that are back on the physio table or under the knife, so I’m very conscious of that. The depth of those fast bowlers is crucial and us managing their workloads and their return-to-play processes is critical.”
Apart from Duffy, the squad now has in its fast-bowling attack Nathan Smith, Kristian Clarke, Matt Fisher and Lister, with frontline spin options in returning captain Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell and Jayden Lennox.
The first three ODIs will be played in Providence, Guyana, on July 11, 13 and 16, and the fourth and fifth games at Kensington Oval in Barbados on July 19 and 21.
New Zealand squad for ODI series in the West Indies
Mitchell Santner (capt), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Kristian Clarke, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Fisher, Dean Foxcroft, Mitchell Hay (wk), Nick Kelly, Tom Latham (wk), Jayden Lennox, Ben Lister, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Nathan Smith, Will Young
[Cricinfo]
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