India captain Rohit Sharma has said that India will treat Thursday’s semifinal against England as another game and they won’t try to emphasise the fact that it will be a knockout match. The Indian players will try to forget its context so that there won’t be much pressure on the team.
“We want to treat this game as another game that we have played in this tournament. We don’t want to think about what lies ahead and what is the context of the game and all of that. Everyone knows in the back of their mind it’s a semi-final. But you don’t want to keep talking about it again and again and again. And not to think about what has happened in the past,” Rohit Sharma said on the eve of the semifinal in Georgetown. “The entire group is in a good frame of mind. We are playing well as a team, enjoying each other’s company, enjoying each other’s success at times as well. I think it’s important to just carry on from what we’ve been doing in this tournament.”
Meanwhile, India haven’t won an ICC Trophy for a while and in recent times, they lost the semifinal of the T20 World Cup in 2022 in Australia, the final of the ODI World Cup last year in India and the World Test Championship (WTC) final twice as well.
“We don’t want to think about the final, which is too far ahead. We want to think about how well we can play and what we can do as a team for us to achieve the result that we are looking for. Sometimes if you think too much, then you will not be able to make the decisions that you want to make on the field. So, I think it’s important that we stay clear in our mind about what we want to do. We have had enough conversations with the players, what is expected out of each one of us. So, it’s time now to just rely on the individual instinct and then take the game forward,” Rohit Sharma said of the team’s approach to the contest.
Rohit Sharma also dismissed the perception that they have the advantage by knowing where they will play their semifinal, something England haven’t. He also countered Inzamam ul Haq’s allegation that Arshdeep Singh was tampering with the ball to extract reverse swing.
Rohit replied, “What should I say now about this. You are playing in such hot sun, the wicket is so dry, the ball reverses automatically. It’s happening for all the teams, not just ours. All the teams are reverse swinging. Sometimes, it’s important to open your mind and understand the conditions you’re playing in. The match is not taking place in England or Australia. That’s what I’ll say.”
