NEW DELHI: Days after India’s heartbreaking loss in the ODI World Cup 2023 final loss against Australia at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19, ‘Men in Blue’ skipper Rohit Sharma said that the defeat against the Aussies was hard to digest but life goes on. Speaking in a video shared by Mumbai Indians (MI) on their official X (formerly Twitter) account, Rohit accepted that it was tough and not easy to move on. “It wasn’t easy to digest, but life moves on. You have to move on in life. But, honestly, it was tough. It was not so easy to just move on,” Rohit said in the video. “I have always grown up watching 50-over World Cup, and to me, that was the ultimate prize. We have worked all these years for that World Cup… and it is disappointing, right? If you don’t get through it, and you don’t get what you want, what you’ve been looking for all this while, what you were dreaming of, you get disappointed, and you get frustrated as well at times,” he added. The 36-year-old praised his ODI World Cup 2023 side and he is proud of the squad members since they displayed an outstanding in the tournament. “I thought we did everything we could from our side. If someone asks me, what went wrong… because we won ten games, and in those ten games, yes, we made mistakes, but that mistake happens in every game that you play. You cannot have a perfect game. You can have a near-perfect game. But you cannot have a perfect game. If I look on the other side of it, I’m really proud of the team as well. Because how we played was simply outstanding. You don’t get to perform like that every World Cup. And I am pretty sure I am, at least, how we played up until that final, it would have given people a lot of joy, a lot of pride watching the team play,” he added. “After the final, it was very hard to get back and start moving on, which is why I decided that I need to go somewhere and just get my mind out of this,” he added. He further added that after the end of the tournament, people came towards him and appreciated everyone’s effort. “But then, wherever I was, I realised that people were coming up to me and they were appreciating everyone’s effort, how well we played. I feel for all of them. They all, along with us, they were dreaming of lifting that World Cup, along with us,” he added. Rohit further appreciated his fans and said that there was support from everyone. He added that it makes him disappointed for not being able to go through till the end. “Everywhere we went during this entire World Cup campaign, there was so much support from everyone, who came to the stadium firstly, and people who were watching it from home as well. I want to appreciate what the people have done for us, in that one-and-a-half months. But again, if I think more and more about that I feel quite disappointed that we were not able to go through all the way,” he added. While concluding, he said that fans’ support gave him the motivation to get back and start working again to eye another ultimate prize. “For me to see, you know, people coming up to me, telling me that they were proud of the team, you know made me feel really good to a certain extent. And along with them, I was healing as well. I felt, okay these are the kind of things you want to hear. When you meet people, when they understand what the player must be going through and when they know these kind of things… and not to bring out that frustration, that anger, it means a lot for us, for me definitely it meant a lot because there was no anger, it was just pure love from people that I met and it was wonderful to see that. So it gives you motivation to get back and start working again and look for another ultimate prize,” he added. Recapping the final match of the ODI World Cup 2023, India struggled on a tough batting surface after Australia elected to field first, with fifties coming from KL Rahul (66) and Virat Kohli (54). India was bundled out for 240 in their 50 overs. In the chase of 241, Travis Head (137) and Marnus Labuschagne (58*) guided Australia to their sixth WC title at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium.
