Rohit Sharma slams Team India players despite victory against England, know why

Despite winning the first T20I against England at Southampton, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma slammed his side for poor fielding in the game where India registered an emphatic 50 run win over the host. Rohit said that he is not proud of his side-dropping catches in the series opener.

Sharma said it was an all-round show from the first ball, but lamented his players were ‘sloppy’ while fielding. The skipper was not happy with the team’s fielding efforts and made it known.

“We were sloppy in the field. We dropped catches. Those catches should’ve been taken. We want to set a high standard in that department. Not proud of it,” said Sharma.

India, following their Test setback against the Ben Stokes-led side, made a huge statement in white-ball cricket, defeating England in the opening game and signaling their intent for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

Sharma, after missing the rescheduled fifth Test, returned to lead the white-ball side and scored a blistering 24 before the likes of Deepak Hooda (33), Suryakumar Yadav (39) and Pandya (51) took over to guide India to a massive 198 in 20 overs.

Pandya returned with the ball to remove the entire top order (4/33), denying England the opportunity to play their natural game in home conditions.

“Great performance from ball one. There was an intent shown from all the batters although the pitch was really good so you could back your shots. At no point did we feel we were getting ahead of ourselves, we played cricketing shots,” said Sharma.

Sharma added that making the best use of the powerplay overs at the start of the innings had become the mantra of most sides, and it is important to ‘back your basics’ in those crucial overs.

“Looking at the larger picture, you try to back your basics. You got to make use of the six overs (with the bat). We’ve spoken about our approach -- sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s what this sport is, that’s what makes it challenging. It’s something we have spoken of, and all the players need to buy into it, not just 1-2 players,” he said.