Rohit Sharma thanks fans with a heavy heart after World Cup exit

The sight of an emotional Rohit Sharma in the dressing room while the World Cup semifinal was drifting away from India will be remembered for a long time. Rohit was the star man for India throughout the competition. The right-handed batsman had scored five centuries in just eight innings when the group stage ended. He had also scored a fifty as India finished the group stage on the top of the points table.

But Rohit had a rare off day on Wednesday when he was out for just one run against New Zealand. And India never really recovered form that huge early setback. Within moments of Rohit’s dismissal, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli also joined him in the pavilion as India found themselves 3 down for 5. Dinesh Karthik failed too, leaving India 4 down for just 24. A 47-run stand between Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya did some damage control but Mitchell Santner dismissed both of them in quick succession to reduce India to 92 for 6.

The game was looking as good as over at that moment before Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni came up with heroic efforts. The two did not let New Zealand make further inroads in the game. Jadeja and Dhoni revived India’s hopes with a century-plus stand. However, they could not take India over the line either. Jadeja departed in the 48th over after scoring 77 while Dhoni departed in the next after scoring 50. India were eventually all out for 221 to exit the World Cup from the semifinal stage for the second time in a row.

Rohit Sharma’s message

Hours after the heartbreaking exit from the tournament, Rohit Sharma took to Twitter to leave a beautiful message for the fans. The opener thanked the fans for their support and also expressed his disappointment over the loss, writing:

“We failed to deliver as a team when it mattered, 30 minutes of poor cricket yesterday & that snatched away our chance for the cup. My heart is heavy as I’m sure yours is too. The support away from home was incredible. Thank you all for painting most of UK blue wherever we played.”

We failed to deliver as a team when it mattered, 30 minutes of poor cricket yesterday & that snatched away our chance for the cup. My heart is heavy as I’m sure yours is too.The support away from home was incredible.Thank you all for painting most of uk blue wherever we played 🇮🇳

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) July 11, 2019