India’s newly-elected white-ball captain Rohit Sharma plans on creating a “strong bond” among players with the help of head coach Rahul Dravid to take the team to new heights. Rohit wants the players to shut out the outside noise amidst controversies and speculations. "We want to create a strong bond between players and that will help us in achieving the goal we want and yeah, Rahul bhai obviously, is going to help us in doing that. So we look forward to that," Rohit told bcci.tv in an interview.
"When you play for India, there will be pressure. Lot of people will talk a lot of things, positive, negative, for me personally, as a cricketer, it's important for me to focus on my job and not what others are talking about. You can't control that," he said.
Team India will be taking on South Africa under the leadership of Virat Kohli in the Test series starting December 16. The new Test vice-captain believes that what players think of each other will matter in the long run.
"I have kept on saying this and I will say this a million times, the message is to team as well, team understands that when we play a high profile tourney, there will be lot of talks but what is important for us is to focus what we have in hand.
"That is to win games and play the way you are known to play. I think those talk that happen outside are immaterial, what is important is what we think of each other, what I think of y or z, that is a important," he added.
India will look to register their first series win on South Africa soil. Rohit will be a key factor considering his recent form in the longest format of the game. He will be tested against quality Proteas fast-bowling lineup comprising Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Duanne Olivier. In South Africa, he has scored just 47 runs from four matches. However, his Test cricket approach has changed so far.
