The landscape of ODI cricket has changed with the arrival of Twenty20. With the shorter format getting focus, ODIs are struggling to stay relevant. Yet when it comes to a World Cup, the players, teams, and officials all remain focused on the challenge ahead and eventually the trophy. A coveted trophy.
Skipper Rohit Sharma is all gung ho about Team India’s preparedness coming into the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 at home. Asked about the Men in Blue’s preparedness for the tournament, Rohit Sharma said the mood has been good. “We've come into this tournament prepared really well, so quite confident about us skill-wise. We're looking forward to the game."
World Cups at home were never easy but then India under MS Dhoni broke the jinx by winning it at home in 2011. Rohit and company would like to emulate the feat and believe that no time is better than the present to be the world champions.
On Shubman Gill's availability, Sharma made it clear that despite news of his reported “ailment” he has not ruled the young batter out of the opening game. News reports have suggested Shubman Gill has a bout of fever, probably dengue, but the team management chose not to reveal what is the exact nature of the ailment.
“He is not 100%, but he's sick. So, there's no injury concern. Gill is not feeling well. We are monitoring him on a daily basis. So, we're going to give him every chance to recover and see how he feels. So, he's not ruled out yet.”
On getting to lead India in the World Cup, Rohit Sharma said, “It means a lot. The 50-over World Cup is the biggest sporting event in cricketing history. And being the captain, yes, it's a huge honour. I don't know how to describe that because it's a big deal for me,” he said.
The swashbuckling batter however refused to read too much into India’s recent performances against Australia. “What we've done in the past, I don't think it'll matter too much. You've got to play good cricket on a given day. And Australia being Australia, we know how they play in ICC tournaments. There is a reason that they have so many championships. So, for us, it will be very important that we stick to what we want to do as a team, focus on our strengths, and assess the conditions here.
"You got to assess in terms of how you want to bat, how you want to bowl, what lengths, line for the spinners as well. So, everything comes into play and we played against Australia on this very same venue in March and we were slightly behind in that game. But we exactly knew what went wrong for us. So hopefully we shouldn't repeat the mistake that we made in that game in March. I'm sure both teams will be raring to go and have a good start to the tournament," he said.
Sharma feels the current weather conditions might be as hot as when they played Australia in March. He however didn't say much about the wicket. "We still have to wait and see how it looks on match day because the colour of the pitch changes quite a lot here. So, we will wait on that match day and see what we need to do because that is something that we always do in India.”
Sharma was expectedly asked about his batting form which was impeccable in the previous edition of the World Cup wherein he scored 5 centuries. He has had a rather tepid batting form over the past few months. "Yeah, both are different things - that is where the experience of being here for 16 years, playing the sport comes into the picture. How you handle that pressure, handle that moment during the game... The 16 years of cricket has taught me that, how to go through the moments and how to handle those pressures and not to let that pressure come on to the team,” he said.
Squads
India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur.
Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.
Match starts: 2:00 pm.
