India Cricket Team under skipper Rohit Sharma has some unfinished business. The Men in Blue are desperate to exact revenge on the Kiwis after their loss in the 2019 World Cup semis clash. Ahead of the IND vs NZ World Cup semis clash, a positive Rohit Sharma addressed the media claiming that his side is brimming with confidence after 9 wins.
India has dominated the World Cup after having won all 9 of their World Cup group-stage games. The two sides met in Dharamshala where the Men in Blue secured a 3-wicket win, the game being the closest any team that has posed any challenge to the resilient Indian side. Excerpts…
On Pressure for a Big Game
Rohit Sharma: Whenever you play a World Cup game, there is always pressure. This is obvious because the World Cup is a World Cup, that’s why there is pressure. But we have handled that pressure very well in the last 9 games. From the first game to the last game we played in Bangalore, the boys gave a good response. We were only focused on our game. We wanted to play good cricket.
In the future also, we will focus on playing good cricket. Because in India, if you are an Indian cricketer, then whatever the format, whatever the tournament, there is always pressure.
So, I think in terms of pressure, it becomes mandatory for Indian cricketers. There is pressure, but we have tried so hard in all these years to keep that aside and focus more on our game, strategy, and the way we play.
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Changes in Bowling options
Rohit Sharma: We wanted to change our combination when Hardik got injured. Before that, from the first game we tried to get the rest of the players to bowl. It was important to get the situation right. In the last game, we got the situation where we could try some things. So, it’s good. I mean, there are options, but I hope we don’t need them.
On how Senior Players are reacting to 2019 semis Loss
Rohit Sharma: No, I think it’s very, you know, obviously in the back of your mind, you know what has happened in the past. But what has happened in the past is the past. What you can do today, what you can do tomorrow is what, you know, we usually talk about. So, I don’t think there’s much debate or much talk about what happened ten years ago or five years ago or the last World Cup as well.
On unfinished Business
Rohit Sharma: Getting through to the qualifying stage, then the semis and then the finals, there are processes that you have to do. Because in the league games, you have nine games that you have to play well to qualify. So, our first focus, obviously, was to qualify from the league stages through to semifinals. And nine games. Nine games is a lot of games. Literally, two or three bilateral series to be honest. You have to break it down into games, different venues, you have to break it down into different strategies as well, different opposition you play.
There will be challenges thrown at you at different stages of the game. You just got to respond. You just got to front up and get through that situation.
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Challenge against New Zealand
Rohit Sharma: Whenever we’ve come up against New Zealand, obviously, probably the most disciplined team in terms of how they want to play the game. And they play their cricket very smartly. They understand the opposition quite well. Obviously having played with a lot of our players in different stages of their careers, different tournaments, they do understand the mentality of the opposition. It is the same for us as well.
But, whenever we’ve played against them, the most disciplined team, I would say. And they’ve been very consistent for so many years now, playing semifinals and the finals of probably all ICC tournaments in the last, I don’t know, maybe six, seven years, from 2015 onwards, if I’m not wrong.
So yeah, and we do understand what they bring to the table and how they play their cricket. We have been closely following all the teams as to where their strength lies, where their weakness lies. And based on that, we try and go out there and play the game.
Importance of ODI World Cup vs T20 World Cup
Rohit Sharma: The 50-over World Cup is the top of the table. I have said it at the start of it. I am not somebody who is going to say this format is better than that format because for me all three formats are equally important because you are playing for your country in all these formats and it’s a very rare privilege that anyone can have of playing for your country.
To be honest, anyone can beat anyone on that particular day. If you don’t show up well, if you don’t play to your potential, teams will beat you. So, you’ve got to be ready for it and we saw it in this tournament that every team is capable and at the end of the day you are talking about the World Cup. Every team will come fighting hard to get that victory. So, I think it has been a fantastic tournament.
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