Mumbai, Jul 12 (IANS): India vice-captain Rohit Sharma feels the team could not deliver as a unit during their 18-run semifinal loss to New Zealand in the World Cup.
"We failed to deliver as a team when it mattered, 30 minutes of poor cricket yesterday & that snatched away our chance for the cup," Rohit tweeted.
Personally, the opener had a great World Cup scoring a record five centuries, the most by a batsman in a single World Cup, and remains on top of the highest run getters' chart with 648 runs to his name in nine innings.
"My heart is heavy as I'm sure yours is too. The support away from home was incredible. Thank you all for painting most of uk blue wherever we played," said Rohit.
India skipper Virat Kohli also spoke about the 45 minutes of bad cricket which cost them a place in the World Cup final after doing so well throughout the tournament.
"Forty-five minutes of bad cricket puts you out of the tournament. Difficult to take it -- but New Zealand deserve it. Our shot selection could have been better, but we played good cricket throughout. New Zealand were braver in crunch situations and they deserve it," Kohli had said at the presentation ceremony, referring to the period inside the first 10 overs in which India lost four top-order batsmen, including Rohit Sharma and Kohli.
India came into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the crown. Throughout the group stages of the 10-team event, the Men in Blue played true to their favourites tag by winning seven of the eight games with the one against the Kiwis getting called off due to rain. They lost to England, but still managed to top the group with 15 points from nine matches.
In the semifinal against New Zealand, who reached the knockouts by the skin of their teeth after finishing fourth, India were overwhelming favourites to win. But despite restricting the Black Caps to 239/8 in 50 overs, India were blown away by the Kiwi bowlers led by Matt Henry (3/37) on the reserve day, after play could not be completed on the first day due to inclement weather.
India lost four top order batsmen for just 24 runs inside 10 overs before Ravindra Jadeja (77) and M.S. Dhoni (50) shared a 116-run seventh wicket stand to raise hopes of an unlikely victory. However, it wasn't enough in the end as India fell short by 18 runs.