Ahead of the ODI series opener, Rohit Sharma addressed a press conference where he said, “It is an important series for us as it will help us in the build-up to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup which will be played here next year. We will get to know where we stand as a team and we can also sit back and make targets. We have played good cricket in the recent past in India and outside. We have seen how high-scoring encounters were played when Australia toured here. Kuldeep is an attacking option wherever we play him. Unfortunate he missed out on the last T20I. It is up to the management to make a call on that. Hopefully, he can extract some turn and that could trouble the opposition.”
“Considering it is going to be a high-scoring series. You want to bat second and the team likes to chase down targets. But any which way, toss is not in our hands. We have noticed the last series here was a high-scoring series. I am expecting nothing else but an high-scoring series. want to see a score in front of us. England would also like to chase and move around their batsman. every team has their own strategy. For us, bowling or batting first does not matter. It is going to be important we play good cricket,” he added further.
On KL Rahul: I do not know where he will bat in ODIs, we do not know where he bats. The most important question is what the captain wants. He wants to make an impact, he is eager to make it big. We had a successful Champions Trophy here in England. we have absorbed pressure and responded well. This English team will put us under pressure every now and then. If we stick to our strengths we should be good.