Rohit Sharma Urges Calm as India Prepares for T20 World Cup Final Against South Africa
India captain Rohit Sharma has called for calm and composure from his team as they aim to secure their second ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title against South Africa on Saturday. India secured their spot in the T20 World Cup final with a commanding 68-run victory over England in Guyana on Thursday. They will now face South Africa, the only other unbeaten team in the tournament, at Kensington Oval in Barbados. Rohit emphasized the importance of maintaining the same mindset that has brought them success so far in the tournament. He stressed that staying calm and composed is crucial for making good decisions throughout the game. The experienced skipper is determined to break India’s recent drought at ICC tournaments and add a second T20 World Cup trophy to their collection, the first being in 2007 in South Africa. “We’ve been very calm as a team,” Rohit said after India’s semi-final victory. “We do understand the occasion (in the final), but for us, it’s important to keep calm and composed. That helps us make good decisions. We need to make good decisions through the 40 overs. In this game too, we were steady and calm, and didn’t panic too much. That has been the key for us. Yes, we do understand the occasion is important, but we need to play good cricket as well.” Rohit led from the front in the semi-final, top-scoring for India with a well-compiled half-century at the top of the order. Suryakumar Yadav supported with a crucial cameo of 47, helping India post a competitive total of 171/7 after being put in to bat first by England captain Jos Buttler. India’s spinners played a pivotal role in the match, with Kuldeep Yadav (3/19), Axar Patel (3/23), and Ravindra Jadeja (0/16) taking six wickets between them and keeping England’s chase in check. Rohit praised his spinners for their calm execution under pressure. “They are gun spinners,” the India skipper said. “When conditions are like that in front of them, it’s very difficult to play some shots. Yes, the pressure is on them to execute those balls, but they were very calm and knew what to bowl. We had a chat after the first innings: the plan was to hit the stumps as much as possible and keep the stumps in play and that’s what they did.”
