Xtra Time Web Desk: Star India batter Rohit Sharma on Tuesday said he would love to win a few ICC titles before leaving captaincy. Rohit will lead the test side against Australia for the much-awaited ICC World Test Championship final to be played at the Oval starting on Wednesday, June 7.
“Obviously I have got the job to make sure that Indian cricket goes forward, whoever it is, for me it will also be the same, it will be nice winning some titles, we generally don’t want to put pressure, like every other individual, I also want to win a championship, nice one and two championships. Tomorrow we will start with another challenge. But we do understand winning is not easy. Right now, focus on that, to do well in the game. I haven’t thought about the future. I always want to focus on the present,” Rohit said during the pre-match press conference here on Tuesday.
Rohit stated that the combination for the match will be revealed closer to the game. He emphasized the need for all fifteen players to be prepared and ready to contribute at any given moment.
“Combination, we better wait till tomorrow. All fifteen players must be ready to play at any point of time,” Rohit told reporters.
When questioned about India’s long-standing wait for an ICC Championship, Rohit acknowledged that the players are well aware of the team’s achievements. He emphasized the importance of focusing on the present and approaching the upcoming match with a determined mindset.
“The players are aware, as is everyone else, of our accomplishments. Our primary focus is to remain in the present and give it our all.”
On handling the pressure of a high-stakes game like the WTC Final, Rohit highlighted the team’s collective experience and their ability to cope with pressure situations. He expressed confidence that every individual taking the field tomorrow has successfully managed such pressure before.
“A lot of guys are quite experienced right now, every individual has managed pressure, whoever takes the field tomorrow has got through the pressure situation before.”
Commenting on playing the WTC Final immediately after the IPL, Rohit acknowledged the lack of substantial breaks and emphasized the importance of workload management. He mentioned that the team has been proactive in addressing this aspect, considering the demanding cricket schedule.
“We don’t know when we had a good amount of break, that’s why so much workload management, this is part of your job now, you do understand now a lot of cricket is being played, we are trying everything from our side. It’s not just now, last year we played that test, three T20Is and three ODIs.”
Reflecting on the learnings from the previous WTC Final, Rohit acknowledged the mistakes made and discussed them within the team. While a few players may have changed since then, Rohit expressed excitement about the upcoming challenge and the opportunity to rectify past errors.
“You know, last time we played, we did make a few mistakes, which we have already spoken about in this group. Obviously, there are few guys missing from that Squad, but yeah, I mean, we are quite excited about this court as well, you know, it’s, it’s a good challenge to end. Yep, we know exactly what went wrong for us in the last championship final. So we hopefully will not repeat those kind of things. That is all you want to do. We know what exactly went wrong in the last WTC Championship final. Hopefully, we will not repeat these kinds of things.”