Rohit Sharma and Australia will be up against each other in their blockbuster ODI World Cup opener on October 8, Sunday. The hype is palpable before the high-octane clash at the MA Chidambaram stadium as both the teams would want to kick off their World Cup campaign on a winning note.
On the eve of the match against Australia, India skipper Rohit Sharma talked about handling pressure during such big game. Rohit didn't shy away from admitting the evident pressure before the highly-anticipated match. But he bluntly downplayed the role of pressure by saying 16 years of cricket has taught him how to handle pressure.
“16 years of cricket has taught me how to handle pressure. Certain stages of the tournament, players and team will get under pressure. Pressure has always been there, so no point talking about pressure. We want to keep external factors aside. We have a lot of characters who are mentally strong because of what they have gone through to be here. We play a game, think about an opposition and move on from there,” Rohit said in the press conference.
“As a batter, I do what’s best for the team,” he added.
Rohit also said that conditions will not matter a lot citing familiar atmosphere for Australian team as they have played plenty of cricket in India in IPL, three ODIs and now in the showpiece event.
“Aussies play a lot of cricket here, IPL, three ODIs now and earlier. It helps them but conditions will not matter a lot because it’s same everywhere as there’s so much cricket being played around the world,” Rohit said.
The hitman was also full of praise for India's star all-rounder Hardik Pandya. The Indian skipper said that Hardik gives team an advantage of playing three players as an exceptional all-rounder.
"Hardik Pandya gives us an advantage of playing three players. It gives us that balance of playing three spinners because Hardik can crank up pace.
You’ve heard the great man say that until he wins the World Cup, there’s unfinished business. We also want it, but you need to find a good balance between desperation and being hungry. Luckily, the seniors have been doing what they are supposed to and being under the radar. Also, we will need some luck," Rohit concluded.
Meanwhile, Rohit provided a major update on India's flamboyant opener Shubman Gill's availability for the match against Australia. Gill, who is suffering from dengue, hasn't been completely ruled out from participating in the box office contest. skipper Rohit once again reiterated that Gill is 'sick' but didn't rule him out of the crunch upcoming fixture.
The mood is good as it is going to be at the start of every big tournament. We are confident. Everyone is fit. Gill is sick but we haven’t ruled him out," said Rohit.
"Me being a human being first, I want him to get well first. He will recover quickly," the Indian captain added.
Earlier, on October 6 (Friday), head coach Rahul Dravid also affirmed that Gill is being monitored by the medical team and that the 24-year-old hasn't been ruled out of the game by the medical staff.
"Shubman is certainly feeling better. Feeling better today, the medical team is monitoring him. The medical team has not ruled him out. We will see how he feels the day after tomorrow,” Dravid had said in the presser.
India's squad for ODI World Cup 2023:
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Asian Games 2023: India win gold in men's cricket despite not batting; here is how that happened!
