India last won a World Cup in 2011 at home in Mumbai with MS Dhoni’s famous six that sent the whole country into an overdrive with jubilant scenes. Though the memory is indelible, it has now been more than a decade since the Indian team has had its hands on any coveted ICC trophy. The sentiment is found to be mutual with the Indian captain Rohit Sharma who is flattered to lead the Indian cricket team for the first time in an ICC event. However, Rohit and co are taking one thing at a time and not rushing as the plan suggests they are in no mood of thinking too far at the moment.
“It’s been a while since we won the World Cup. Obviously, the motive and the thought process is to win the tournament. We know we have to do a lot of things right to get there. So it’s one step at a time for us. We can think too far ahead. We can’t think about semis and finals right now. We have to focus on one team at a time and do our best and prepare for that. Our focus will be to prepare well against each team and make sure that we move in the right direction,” he said.
Rohit under whose leadership India will be led for the first time emphasised the need to stay ‘calm and composed to get the desired result.
“As players, we know it is a big game, but we want to keep ourselves relaxed and focus on what we need to do as individuals. That is going to be the key for us. If individuals can keep themselves calm and composed during the game, we will get the result that we are looking for,” Rohit added.
The 35-year-old Rohit who succeeded Virat Kohli as the captain of the team said it’s a matter of ‘big honour’ for him to marshal the men in blue.
"It is a big honour to captain the side. my first World Cup as captain so I am excited about it. It is great opportunity to come here and do something special.
India will start their T20 World Cup 2022's campaign with a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 23.
India squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dinesh Karthik (wicket-keeper), Hardik Pandya, R. Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami.
