The Indian limited-overs series, Rohit Sharma on Tuesday said the team had a meeting on Monday to make sure that the players are now focused on the upcoming T20I series against the West Indies. He also stressed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 auction will have no bearing on the players’ minds when they will be facing the Windies at the Eden Gardens.
On the eve of the 1st T2oI against West Indies, Rohit Sharma said it’s natural that players would have felt a variety of emotions during the auction but stressed that all of them are professionals and focus on the job at hand in the T20I series.
As per the quotes in India Today, talking to the reporters, Rohit Sharma said, “It was understood that guys will go through ups and downs, some emotional feeling within themselves on which team they will play for in the IPL. But that was done the day before yesterday, we had a great meeting with everyone and we asked them to focus on the colour blue for the next two weeks.”
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He further added, “Whatever has happened, has happened, for the next two weeks, they have to focus on playing for India, nothing else. That is something we spoke of and all these guys are professionals, you can expect once they wear India colors, it is all about India, nothing else matters.”
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma also said the IPL dynamics will not matter to him while selecting the playing XI during the T20I series against the West indies. He also asserted that it is the responsibility of the star players to put behind the auction and contribute to the team’s success.
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Elaborating the same, Rohit Sharma said, “There is no consideration of IPL here, honestly. We are not looking at where will players bat for their franchise in the IPL, we are looking at where they will bat for Team India, as simple as that. We will be focusing on this, these guys do different roles for their franchises, what we need from them here is important.”
He further elaborated, “IPL will happen later, we will take care of it then. This is the time for us to do things and guys have been spoken to on what we are expecting out of them. Whether it is bowler or batter, the clarity has been given to them and it is up to them on how they want to adapt.”
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Ahead of the T20I series against the Windies, India had won the preceding ODI series by a 3-0 margin. They also registered a whitewash in the three-match series against New Zealand at home last year. Meanwhile, West Indies may have looked ordinary during the ODIs but they are a better T20I side and it was evident with the way they beat England 3-2 at home before coming to India.
