Scotland players visit Indian dressing room after the match
Cricket Scotland posted multiple photographs of Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah having a chat with the Scotland cricketers inside their dressing room referring the moments as ‘priceless’.
Thrashing. Mauling. Annihilation. There are many ways to describe India's 8-wicket win with as many as 81 balls to spare against Scotland in the T20 World Cup Super 12, Group 2 encounter. But the Indian team showed why one should use none of those. After the comprehensive victory in Dubai on Friday, which kept them in semi-final contention, the Indian players led by captain Virat Kohli agreed to host the Scotland players and spend time with them when they requested to visit the Indian dressing room.
Cricket Scotland posted multiple photographs of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah and others having a chat with the Scotland cricketers inside the dressing room, referring the moments as 'priceless'.
The gulf between India and Scotland in pretty much every department was evident and was on full display. But to describe the events with only cricketing parlance that unfolded on Friday would be an injustice to Scotland, whose cricket board's yearly revenue is less than what the Indian board earns in one match.
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Despite the odds, Scotland, whose players were eagerly waiting to rub shoulders with the likes of Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, in their first-ever T20I against India, did not look out of place. Yes, they were outplayed on cricketing skills but not for once, they let their shoulders drop or appeared to have been overawed by the occasion.
It was therefore, the perfect gesture by the Indian stars to acknowledge that and encourage the Scotland players after the match.
"For us in Cricket Scotland, it is brilliant to see how we managed to get ourselves in the Super 12 (stage) and qualify for the next World Cup, so there is plenty to look forward to. We can't be happy with just playing a few Super 12 games. We need to be brave and push that a little-bit further, and we need support there," said Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer.
Scotland, who are already out of the tournament, will be facing table-toppers Pakistan in their last Super 12 game at Sharjah on Sunday.
Coetzer also conceded that it was a high-class execution from the Indian team and facing Indian spinners was always going to be "hard".
"That was a high-class execution from India today. I am so extremely proud of the guys but we have got a lot of learning to do and we have to go through days like this," he said.India showed their class and might with an all-round effort as they pulverised Scotland by eight wickets in a Super 12 game on Friday, ensuring that they live to fight another day in the ICC T20 World Cup.
"They (India) showed how to use the surface, they showed how to bowl, execute their yorkers, the spinners, (their) variation and plenty of mystery about some of their bowlers, so when you face guys (players) like that for the first-time, which we did today, it was always going to be hard," he signed off.
