India captain Rohit Sharma was criticized on social media after he suffered a rare failure in the 2023 Cricket World Cup on Thursday. The 36-year-old cricketer, among the highest run-scorers in the current edition of the quadrennial event, was dismissed for four against Sri Lanka, putting India on the backfoot early on in the contest in Mumbai.

 

It was Rohit Sharma's first single-digit score in the World Cup since his duck in India's opening game against Australia in Chennai earlier this month. 

 

After failing to open his account in India's World Cup opener, Rohit Sharma's aggressive approach laid the foundation for the home side's winning streak in the prestigious competition. 

 

During India's ongoing campaign in the World Cup, Rohit Sharma has already scored a hundred and a couple of fifties.

 

But Thursday wasn't to be his day as he was clean-bowled by Sri Lankan pace spearhead Dilshan Madushanka by a beauty.

 

Nonetheless, Rohit Sharma's failure against Sri Lanka wasn't a complete surprise, given that his record at the Wankhede Stadium isn't that impressive.

 

Rohit Sharma's stats at Wankhede Stadium

16 vs South Africa in 2015

20 vs New Zealand in 2017

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10 vs Australia in 2020

4 vs Sri Lanka in 2023 

https://twitter.com/ExposeThalaFan/status/1719997893980180622

Meanwhile, in the pre-match media briefing, Rohit Sharma talked about the pressure of people's expectations on his shoulders.

 

“It's not my thought process (that India is enjoying a dream run), it's the team's thought process that the guys comply with. When things look good, everything looks good, everything works well. I know how this whole thing works. I'm quite aware of one game here and there, I know suddenly I'll be a bad captain. I know how it works. I try and do what is necessary from the team's perspective and be sure of that,” the India captain told reporters in Mumbai.

 

On being quipped if his teammates had one eye on lifting the World Cup trophy in Ahmedabad, Rohit Sharma replied that they were not thinking about it.

“No, we are not thinking of going that far, honestly. We just want to win every match. I have said this so many times, that for us, every match that we play is important. How we do well in that, what things we didn't do in the last match, how we can do in this match. Our focus is on that. And after that, we move our vehicle forward. It won't be right for us to think about the future, that we have to go unbeaten and stay unbeaten. I don't think that is the goal. The goal is to play every game and play it well,” he added.

 

“I'm sure all 15 of us (in the squad) when you travel in India, whether you're playing matches or not, there are people at the airport, in the flight next to you, or anywhere you are travelling, they will talk about your game. ‘We want a hundred. We want to see you taking five wickets. We want to see you winning games, tournaments, series' and all of that,” Rohit Sharma pointed out. 

“I am sure all these things have been in the players' ears since the beginning. I don't think it's pressure, but it's nice that people are expecting a lot of things from us. And a nice way to respond is we know how, but at this point in time, we are enjoying the cricket that we are playing and we want to continue to do that as long as possible and as deep as possible,” he concluded.