New Delhi: Indian captain Rohit Sharma was taken aback by a reporter’s inquiry regarding the effect of his Test form on his white-ball confidence during the press conference ahead of the three-match ODI series against England. The skipper quickly responded with a counter-question, emphasizing that he was focused on the upcoming challenge and wasn’t dwelling on recent performances.
“Hi, Rohit. Confident, going out to bat in a format where you are nicknamed ‘Hitman’ despite not getting too many runs in the Test format?” the reporter asked in Nagpur.
“What kind of question is that?” Rohit replied with a chuckle. “This is a different format, a different time. As usual, as cricketers, we know there will be ups and downs. I have gone through it a lot. We know every day is a fresh day, every series is a fresh series. I am looking forward to the challenge. Not looking at what has happened in the past. Clearly, you don’t. For me, there is no reason to look at the past too much. It’s important I focus on what’s coming up and what lies ahead for me. I will look to start the series on a high.”
Rohit endured a tough second half of 2024, with his Test performances declining and India suffering consecutive series losses to New Zealand and Australia under his leadership. Speculation arose about his potential retirement from Tests, and he even chose to miss the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney. These three ODIs offer a welcome opportunity for him, as the format has been his strongest suit over the years.
We want to play a certain brand of cricket: Rohit Sharma
Discussing the team’s strategy for the series, Rohit mentioned that they would continue with the same aggressive approach they employed during the 2023 World Cup, which proved highly effective until the final against Australia.
‘Look, there is a certain type of cricket that we want to play, a certain brand of cricket we want to play,” Rohit said. “And whether it means we have to go and do what we did in the World Cup, we will try and do that. But again, look, the World Cup was one and a half years back. So, clearly we need to regroup as a group now and think about what we need to do here. Obviously, there is a lot of experience in the squad. So, you can’t keep telling them exactly how we need to prepare for every series. They understand what is expected of the team. So, there is not much talking about what kind of approach we want to have,” he added.
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