Ahmedabad, Nov 19: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday admitted that his side was not good enough, especially as a batting unit, in the World Cup final against Australia here.
The Aussies bowled out India for a below-par 240 on a tricky pitch and then chased it down in 43 overs for a six-wicket win to bag a record sixth 50-over world title.
"The result hasn't gone our way and we know that we were not good enough on the day. But I am proud of the team. Honestly, 20-30 runs (more) would've been good. We didn't bat well enough," said Rohit in the post-match presentation.
Rohit said the team was looking to score around 280 when Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were batting. Kohli and Rahul stitched together a rearguard stand for the fourth wicket to steady India after early blows.
"I thought when KL and Virat were batting, we were looking at 270-280 at that point but we kept losing wickets," said Rohit.
The 36-year-old credited the way centurion Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne batted and put up a massive 192 runs for the match-winning fourth-wicket stand for the Aussies.
"Australia stitched a big partnership after losing three wickets. With 240 on the board, we wanted early wickets but credit to Travis Head and Marnus. They put us completely out of the game."
Rohit said the surface got better to bat under lights without using it as an excuse for their poor show.
"I thought the wicket got better to bat under lights. I mean we knew it would be under lights, but I don't want to give that as an excuse.
"But credit to those two guys (Head and Labuschagne) in the middle for stitching that big partnership for the Aussies," Rohit noted.
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Vijayapura: Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has denied making any derogatory statement about Prophet Muhammad, clarifying that there was a misstatement during his speech at a Ram Navami event in Hubballi. "I did not speak about Prophet Muhammad. I meant to refer to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but there was a mistake in the speed of speech," he said addressing reporters on Monday.
He alleged that members of the Congress, frustrated by their hooliganism and failure to collect their hafta (extortion) in Vijayapura are using the Prophet as an excuse to speak against me. “There is no culture of denigrating another religion in Hinduism. Our gurus and elders have not taught us that,” he said.
Responding to another controversy involving an audio clip in which he was allegedly threatened, Yatnal said the police are investigating the matter and that those behind it will soon be exposed. “No one can finish me. The Hindus of Karnataka are with me. If someone tries to finish me, the whole state will rise in protest,” he warned.