Captain Rohit Sharma has no plans to retire now, confirmed vice-captain Shubman Gill. His comments came on the eve of the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand here in Dubai as many speculated Rohit will retire following the final as well. Notably, he announced his retirement from the T20 format after India won the T20 World Cup in Barbados last June.
“Till now we have only been discussing winning the match, winning the Champions Trophy. He has not spoken to me or to the team about this. I don’t think Rohit is thinking about it,” the India vice-captain said.
However, Gill clarified that he has no knowledge of Rohit having any such plans as well. Gill also said that the Indian team has a fair idea of the conditions at the DICS even though the constant talk about sudden change in the weather is going on.
“I don’t think the wicket is going to behave any differently. We haven’t really seen a 300 score here as yet and I think irrespective of the weather, the wicket is going to be similar to what we’ve been playing on. And I think we as a team have got a good idea of how to play on those kinds of wickets and how to bowl on those kinds of wickets,” Shubman Gill again said.
He also said that he is excited about playing in his second final of an ICC event, after the 2023 World Cup, which India lost to Australia as well.
“I am very excited. This is my second ICC event for Team India and second final. So definitely I am very excited. I think the last time we could not do it; this time we will try to do it,” he said. “The pressure of big matches is definitely there. But as we saw in the last match, if we were to talk purely about Australia’s bowling attack, they didn’t have much experience. Yet because it was a big match, there was pressure. So in such matches, the team that handles the pressure well, that takes the occasion out of the equation and doesn’t think that they’re playing the final, their chances of winning are better.”
He also said that the experience of playing big games will help him as well. For example, he reminded Virat Kohli. However, Virat scored a match-winning 84 in the semifinal as well.
“We saw Virat in the last match,” Shubman Gill concluded. “Because he has played so many important matches for India, played so many finals, so many semi-finals. The more you are in that situation and the more you have handled the pressure; you know that you have already done this. You know the pattern of the game. So, experienced players definitely come in handy.”
