India captain Rohit Sharma set the 2023 World Cup ablaze with his stunning ultra-aggressive approach. Using the familiar Indian conditions, he would go for hitting from the beginning, providing a good start that helped India’s near-successful campaign in the 50-over World Cup. Scoring close to 600 runs (597) at a strike rate of over 126, he became one of the batting stars of the tournament. However, this time in the United States and New York, conditions are difficult, and the pitch keeps helping the bowlers in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
While talking about the approach and how he aims to be more balanced, despite playing in the challenging conditions, he said, “I want to play my game in a very balanced way. I don’t want to be too aggressive or too cautious. I want to find that right balance. The conditions do matter and certainly in New York, at least here, you don’t feel that you can just go and play freely or swing your bat the way you do in the other venues. So yeah, you’ve got to be mindful. That’s where I think I want to use my experience and play. But having said that, yeah, I want to keep that balance of not being too aggressive and not being too cautious also. I want to stay in the middle.”
However, Team India have played one match so far and Rohit Sharma was the top scorer in their eight-wicket win over Ireland with an unbeaten 52 off 37 balls with a striker rate of 140 as well. While Ireland was an easier opposition than Pakistan, Rohit is looking to strike a balance between caution and aggression as well.
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“Someone has to put pressure on the bowlers to try and do something different. Otherwise, it’s a very easy game. Come and hit that length and let the pitch do the rest. Unless the batters try something different, the bowlers are not going to change their plan too much. That’s my understanding. Somewhere you have to be innovative, brave to take all those options. There is a reason we are playing eight batters; someone has to go and play freely at the top and see if they can put pressure and get those runs quickly,” he shared.
“I don’t want to rely on one or two individuals to win us the game. I think all of us need to contribute. And of course, there are key players who are going to play key roles but I think everyone needs to chip in, in whatever they can, however they can, in their best possible way. The kind of experience that he has, playing all over the world, playing in big tournaments, nothing can beat that. So, I think, like him, there are responsibilities on everyone who is going to play tomorrow to fetch us those two points,” Rohit Sharma again stated.
Asked if India have the advantage, having played two games already in New York whereas Pakistan hasn’t played any yet in the venue, the India skipper said, “Yes, to an extent you can say that we played cricket here longer – but see, this is happening in New York and it is not our home. We might have spent 6-7 days more, but even in that it rained for 3-4 days. We didn’t get a chance to practise much. Yes, we played two matches, so we have that much more experience.”
“But we don’t know which wicket we will play on here. Here, the wicket is behaving differently every day. So, for both teams, there will be the same opportunity, same conditions. According to me, the team that plays good cricket that day will win. And not that because we have spent a lot of time in New York, so we have more awareness of the conditions,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
