‘It Doesn’t Happen Overnight’: Rohit Sharma Lauds Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav For Their Hardwork – News18

India captain Rohit Sharma was elated with his team’s performance under challenging conditions to beat Sri Lanka and register a place in the final of Asia Cup 2023. Playing on back-to-back days, the Indian bowlers produced a sensational performance to defend the 214-run target as they reached the final of the Asia Cup with a 41-run victory on Tuesday. After a below-par batting performance, the bowlers didn’t disappoint as they put collective effort to bundle out Sri Lanka for 172 at their own den.

Rohit was impressed with his team’s fighting performance under pressure as he suggested that it was also a challenging pitch.

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“Was a good game. For us also to play a game like that under pressure on a slightly challenging pitch. Challenging in a lot of aspects. Definitely looking to play on pitches like this to see what we can achieve, we might as well come here and play on pitches like these,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation.

Rohit also heaped praise on Hardik Pandya’s bowling performance as he bowled the tough overs and delivered well for his time. The flamboyant all-rounder claimed the crucial wicket of Maheesh Theekshana as he gave just 14 runs in his five-over spell.

The Indian skipper said it was not something overnight which Hardik did as he has been working hard on his bowling in the past couple of years.

“He has worked really hard in his bowling for the last couple of years. It doesn’t happen overnight and it’s pleasing to see. He looked like taking a wicket off every ball. Was not an easy target to defend as the pitch got easier at the end and we had to put it consistently in one area and I think we did quite well.” he added.

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Rohit also heaped huge praise for Kuldeep Yadav who claimed a four-fer on Tuesday. The Chinaman spinner has been in terrific form as he also picked a fifer against Pakistan.

The skipper pointed out the hard work Kuldeep has put in in his bowling to get better in the last year.

“For the past year or so bowling really really well. He has done a lot of hard work on his rhythm. He went back to the drawing board and worked on it. The ball is coming out nicely and you can see the results in the last 10 ODIs,” he concluded.