Leading Team India for the first time in the ODI World Cup, Rohit Sharma is well on his course to break Men in Blue's 10-year-long hoodoo of ICC trophy in the ongoing showpiece event.
Rohit's captaincy prowess is evident by the fact that India became the first semifinalist of the World Cup 2023, courtesy to their nine straight victories in the league-stage matches. Rohit's brigade is set to lock horns with New Zealand in the World Cup 2023's semifinal at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on November 15, Thursday.
Meanwhile right ahead of the big game, in the pre-match press conference on November 14, Rohit was posed with a question insinuating his international retirement.
“Don’t have much time to think about my journey. Probably after 19 November I’ll think about it right now it’s just about the business. We just want to display good cricket and we know the importance of this one week and don’t want to change the mindset,” Rohit said on the eve of India vs New Zealand's semifinal match.
India and New Zealand already have faced each other earlier in the ongoing tournament on October 22 in Dharamsala, when Men in Blue thrashed the Kiwis by four wickets riding on Virat Kohli's match-winning 95 and Mohammed Shami's brilliant fifer. Talking about New Zealand's performance, they have won five games in a total of nine matches in the league-stage.
Putting forth his views on his opponent New Zealand Rohit said,"Whenever we’ve come up against New Zealand they’ve been one of the most disciplined teams. They understand the opposition well. They’ve played with and against many of our players. They’ve been very consistent in playing semifinals and finals of the so many ICC tournaments in the last 6-7 years now."
But Rohit can't forget the demons of World Cup 2019, when New Zealand jolted India in the semifinal. Back then, after New Zealand posted a modest total of 239/8, many thought that the formidable India will easily cruise to victory. However, Matt Henry took charge from the outset, dismissing openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma cheaply, putting New Zealand in the driver's seat. Rahul and Rohit managed just one run apiece before Henry sent Dinesh Karthik packing for six runs. He concluded with a remarkable 10-over spell of 3/37, earning him the well-deserved Man of the Match award.
The Hitman also spoke about the pressure surrounding the semifinal match. Notably, India don't have a good track record in the knock out stages of the big tournament. The last 10 years, specifically, has seen India making it to the semifinal and final of the showpiece events, but somehow they fail to clinch the trophy.
“Right from the first game to the last game, every game there’s pressure. World Cup is a World Cup. In the last 9 games we have handled it very well. Boys have responded well. We have focused on our game and will try to do the same going forward. In India, there’s always pressure. Everyone wants us to win, score hundreds in every game. Pressure is mandatory in every game for Indian cricketers. We have decided that we will keep it aside because what happens outside has to stay aside,” Rohit added.
“Getting through to the qualifying stage, there are processes to be done. First was to qualify to the semis and nine games are a lot, almost two three bilateral series, so you have to break it down to parts and then take it forward. Nine different venues and nine different teams we have done really well. First we chased really well and then we batted first, so we have covered all areas. I don’t think we have to do anything different,” Rohit concluded.
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