Team India supporters trolled Rohit Sharma for his “irresponsible” act in Sunday's Cricket World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad.

 

Rohit Sharma, who has set the template for the Indian cricket team's success in the World Cup with his aggressive batting, came out all guns blazing against the Pat Cummins-led side in Gujarat.

 

As the 36-year-old has done throughout the World Cup, Rohit Sharma smoked sixes and boundaries at will against Australia, taking the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc apart during his short but impressive knock of 47 off 31 balls.

 

At 1/76 and Rohit Sharma firing on all cylinders, the crowd inside the Narendra Modi Stadium was excited as India looked in complete command of the proceedings on the field.

 

As the Indians were running away with the match on the back of Rohit Sharma's explosive batting, a moment of brilliance turned the tide in Australia's favor.

 

The head-turning moment came in the 10th over, bowled by Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. After Rohit Sharma took him on, smashing a six and a four off Glenn Maxwell, the India captain tried to hit another maximum.

 

But on this occasion, Rohit Sharma could only get an outside edge of the bat on the ball before Travis Head grabbed a brilliant catch, getting rid of Rohit Sharma for 47.

 

As Rohit Sharma departed for 47, Team India supporters called him irresponsible for taking an unnecessary risk, especially when things were going so well for the Men in Blue.

So much so that “irresponsible” became one of the top trends on the microblogging site as angry netizens showcased their anger with posts there.

“How can someone appreciate this approach of Rohit? It's an ODI WC final match & he's playing T20I. It's called irresponsible not selflessness,” a fan wrote on X.

“Many Rohitians will say this is selfless innings. I will say this is irresponsible, immature and nonsense innings. It's 50 over format not T20 and a captain should know to not play useless shot,” another added.

 

Also, Rohit Sharma set two massive records to etch his name in cricket's history books.

 

During his 47-run knock against Australia, Rohit Sharma smashed three sixes, which took him past Chris Gayle's record for the most sixes against an international side in ODIs. 

 

West Indies icon Chris Gayle struck 85 sixes against England during his illustrious career, and Rohit Sharma bettered it with his three sixes against Australia. 

 

Rohit Sharma now holds the record for the most sixes (86) against a single team in ODIs.

 

Additionally, Rohit Sharma became the highest-scoring skipper in a single edition of the World Cup.

The Hitman finished the 2023 Cricket World Cup with 594 runs, breaking Kane Williamson's record, who made 578 runs in the last World Cup in England. 

Before Rohit Sharma gave India a blistering start in the World Cup final, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar suggested that the home side would put up a big total on the board. 

 

“Just play your game, watch the ball and concentrate on the next one. With the kind of form batting India are in, if they get off to a good start, a 300-plus total is on the cards. I know this is a big ground, hitting sixes won't be easy but as we've seen before, it is difficult to stop this Indian batting unit, if they are off to a great start,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

 

At the toss, Rohit Sharma acknowledged that the atmosphere at the Narendra Modi Stadium would be electric as the fans would come out to support Team India in large numbers.

 

“It's going to be amazing, every time we play here, the crowd come out in large numbers. The biggest occasion in cricket. We have to stay nice and calm. It's a dream come true to be captaining the team in the final. I know what lies in front of us. We need to play well and get the result. You have to make the right decisions on the field. That's something we've done consistently in the last 10 games,” Rohit Sharma said.

 

On the other hand, Pat Cummins stated that he was playing an unchanged Australian team that beat South Africa in the semis.

 

“We are gonna have a bowl first. Looks like a dry wicket. Dew is a factor. It gets better to bat on. Tough start to the tournament, haven't really put a foot wrong ever since. It's all set up perfectly. We've played these guys a lot. Same team as the semi-final,” the Australian skipper noted.

 

Australia Playing XI: Travis Head, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis(wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins(captain), Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood 

 

India's Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(wicketkeeper), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj