India limited-overs skipper, Rohit Sharma has asserted that he wants the middle-order of teh team to prepare for worst situations like 10 for 3 in ODI World Cup 2019 semi-final. Rohit further added that Men in Blue are preparing well for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022, and they will avoid repeating the same mistakes in ICC tournaments.
The BCCI appointed Rohit Sharma as India’s new ODI captain, and he will take reins from Virat Kohli during the upcoming tour of South Africa. Last month, Rohit had become the T20I skipper replacing Kohli, and started off his leadership role with a clean sweep against New Zealand in a three-match T20I series at home.
Virat Kohli was appointed as India’s white-ball captain in 2017, when MS Dhoni decided to step down from the role in 2017, and had great success in bilateral series across formats. However, Virat failed to win the right-hand batsman failed to claim an ICC trophy for the India senior Men’s cricket team.
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Talking to veteran journalist Boria Majumdar on his show, Rohit Sharma said, “We have to prepare for the worst. We’ve to prepare for the situation when the team is 10/3. That is how I want to move forward. There is nowhere written that if you’re 10/3, you can’t get 180 or 190. I want the guys to prepare in that fashion.”
He further added, “In the Champions Trophy (2017), 2019 World Cup, and even this World Cup as well, it was that initial phase of the game where we lost. That is something I’ll keep in mind. Let’s say you’re playing a semi-final, we’re 10/2 in the first two overs, what do we do? What is the plan? I want to put ourselves in that situation and see how we respond to that.”
Rohit Sharma further added that he wants the Indian team to test itself in the matches ahead of the T20 World Cup next year in Australia.
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Elaborating the same, Rohit Sharma said, “We got some games before the World Cup and try and test ourselves. If you look at it, we see a similarity in all World Cup games that we lost. The 2 Pakistan games and the one New Zealand game in the three ICC tournaments. But that can happen. I understand that the quality of bowling is exceptional. It has happened three times, I hope it doesn’t happen for the fourth time. We will hopefully keep preparing for that.”
Rohit Sharma, who has also been named as the Test team’s vice-captain, will begin his full-time role of captain in white-ball cricket with the three-match ODI series in South Africa in January.
