Skipper Rohit Sharma hits back at criticism over India’s approach during 2021 T20 WC; says no results in World Cups doesn’t mean team played badly
Rohit Sharma
Captain Rohit Sharma believes the new fearless approach adopted by India in the shortest format will result in occasional failures, but disagrees that they were playing “conservative” cricket during last year’s T20 World Cup in UAE.
Rohit said the new approach provides more freedom to players, which has yielded success after the disappointing World Cup campaign, where India were eliminated in the league stage.
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“We didn’t get the result from the last World Cup, but that doesn’t mean we played bad cricket all these years and I don’t agree we were playing conservative cricket,” Rohit said.
‘Won 80 per cent of our games’
“If you lose one or two matches in the World Cup, it feels like we were doing this and that, we were not taking our chances. It’s not like that. If you look at the overall games that we have played leading into the World Cup, we won 80 per cent of our games.
“If we were conservative, how can we win so many matches? That’s fine that we lost in the World Cup, didn’t qualify, but that happens. That doesn’t mean we are playing with fear, not playing openly.
Also Read: WI vs IND: Sanju Samson replaces KL Rahul in T20I squad
“Lately, we haven’t made any changes, we are doing the same things, but the players have been given some freedom to go out and play their own game. Play openly, no need to take any undue pressure, if you play freely, performances will show.” Rohit said change is the only constant and the Indian team and its fans too have to move on with time.
“There are bound to be occasional failures in the way we are playing cricket now, results will not be in our favour, but there is no problem in it because we are trying to learn something and trying something different.
‘Scope for mistakes’
“So, there is scope for mistakes, but that doesn’t mean the boys are bad, the team is bad. It’s just that we are trying to do something new. Everyone has to change with time, we are changing so I think people sitting outside also need to change their thinking.”
Samson replaces KL
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson on Friday replaced an indisposed KL Rahul in India’s T20I squad for the ongoing series against the West Indies, the BCCI said. “KL Rahul was earlier named in the squad and his participation in the T20I series was subject to fitness. The batter tested positive for COVID-19 last week and has been advised rest by the BCCI medical team,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement. Meanwhile, India were 88-3 in 10 overs against WI in the first ODI here at the time of going to press.
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