NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma downplayed worries about his fitness on Sunday after taking an unplanned break during his team’s six-wicket victory over Pakistan in a pivotal Champions Trophy group A match in Dubai.
It appeared that Rohit had injured his hamstring as he was observed straining during fielding. At the presentation ceremony, the captain, who also briefly left the field during the Pakistan innings, responded that he was “okay” when questioned about his hamstring.
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“Hamstring’s okay at the moment,” the 37-year-old said in the presentation ceremony following the win that has almost clinched a semifinal slot for India.
Virat Kohli, who reached his 51st ODI century with the game-winning boundary down the off-side, was clearly the day’s star, even if the bowlers set the stage by dismissing Pakistan for 241.

Rohit lavished his longtime India teammate with admiration.
“Virat loves representing the country, doing what he does the best, which is what he did today. People sitting inside the dressing room aren’t surprised with what he did,” Rohit said.
With Kohli fewer than ten runs from reaching his century and India drawing closer to victory, Rohit was spotted urging the star batsman to reach the milestone with a few big hits.

Rohit said all the players did what was required of them.
“We started superbly with the ball. We knew wicket could get slower but backed our experienced batters to go out there and get 240. Credit goes to Kuldeep, Axar, Jadeja who have played a lot.
“(Mohammad) Rizwan and Saud (Shakeel) stitched a good stand, it was important not to let the game drift. Not to forget how (Mohammed) Shami, Hardik (Pandya), and Harshit (Rana) bowled as well. It was a good performance from the entire unit. Boys understand what kind of job is required out of them.
“It’s tricky at times because not all will get to bowl. I try to figure out who’s creating the most problems to the batters and make decisions,” Rohit said.
Pakistan captain Muhammad Rizwan claimed that bad shot selection hurt their cause after they chose to bat first and urged fielding to be improved.
“We won the toss, but we didn’t get the benefit of toss. Their bowlers bowled very well. Me and Saud Shakeel, we wanted to take it deep. But our shot selection was bad and we lost wickets, which is why we were kept to 240,” Rizwan said.

Tournament hosts Pakistan’s second loss in the competition puts them in danger of being eliminated.
Rizwan added, “They put us under pressure. Whenever you lose, you didn’t perform in all departments. We wanted to squeeze, but we couldn’t.
“Kohli and Gill batted very well and took the game away. We need to improve in our fielding. We did a lot of mistakes in this match.”
Shubman Gill was dismissed for 46 by spinner Abrar Ahmed, who said he did not regret sending the Indian batsman out in a heated fashion. Ahmed said he attempted to maintain discipline.
“It’s not an issue. I celebrate the same way even when I get wickets in Pakistan. Match is about winning and losing,” said Abrar, who finished with impressive figures of 1/28 in 10 overs.
Additionally, he claimed that batting in the second innings was easier.
“The wicket was much better to bat in the second innings. First innings, it offered some help to the bowlers.”
“Only Allah knows what lies in store for us,” Abrar said when asked about the disappointment of losing to their traditional rivals yet again.