Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday appreciated the Indian men’s cricket team for their runners-up finish in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at home, saying that the team won hearts of everyone with their performance.
Adressing the nation on the final episode of his programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ for this year, PM Modi said, “Indian players won everyone’s heart with their performance in the Cricket World Cup. The victory of our women’s cricket team in the Under-19 T-20 World Cup is very inspiring. The achievements of players in many other sports added to the glory of the country.”
Team India had a dream run in the home World Cup, in which they won ten matches in a row before losing to Australia in the final. Despite the loss, Men in Blue ticked many checkboxes as they responded to pressure situations really well this time for most of the tournament.
The pace duo of Jasprit Bumrah (20 wickets in 11 matches) and Mohammed Shami (24 wickets in seven matches, highest-wicket-taker) was unplayable while spinners Ravindra Jadeja (16 wickets in 11 matches) and Kuldeep Yadav (15 wickets in 11 matches) also complemented the pace attack well with crucial breakthroughs and assists.
The Indian batting was extremely strong, with skipper Rohit Sharma (597 runs in 11 matches) and Virat Kohli (765 runs in 11 matches) leading from the front with record-breaking performances. While Rohit became the player with the most World Cup centuries ever (seven), going past Sachin Tendulkar, Virat also surpassed the Indian icon to become the first player to register 50 ODI centuries and score the most amount of runs in a single edition of the tournament. Both players also performed well in knockout matches, helping India break the losing streak to New Zealand that had been troubling them since 2003. Also, the performances of Shreyas Iyer (530 runs in 11 matches) and KL Rahul (452 runs in 11 matches) gave India an extremely strong middle-order.