Indian captain Rohit Sharma talked about the recent change in the attitude of the Men in Blue side in T20Is and said that something had to change after the disastrous outing in T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE, where India failed to make it into the knockouts.
While Virat Kohli captained India in the last T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma will be leading the team in this year’s tournament which will be played in Australia in October-November.
Speaking on Star Sports show ‘Follow the Blues’, Rohit said, “We’ve made it very clear after the T20 World Cup in Dubai, where we didn’t qualify for the finals, that we felt there needed to be a change in our attitude and approach in how we play our game.
If the message is clear from the captain and the coach about where the team is trying to head, then the individuals will definitely try to do that. For that to happen they need freedom and clarity and that’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to give them as much freedom as possible.”
WI v IND 2022: Rohit Sharma achieves a rare feat in 4th T20I, joins an elite list of Indian batters
Rohit Sharma was also asked about the Indian team having multiple captains in recent times. India has been led by Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is in 2022 alone.
Rohit said: “I think it’s very important to have that leadership, but obviously, you know we play the IPL and it’s a 10-team tournament. So there will be 10 captains who at some stage will be a part of the Indian team as well. You know, I think it’s fantastic because honestly, my job is much lesser as these guys understand everything pretty well. So, it’s just about if someone’s having a thought, how am I going to back up that thought. For me as captain that is my role and that is what I’m trying to do.”
The India captain across formats also talked about how the role of coach Rahul Dravid is vital for the Indian team going forward.
”With Rahul bhai I have played some games with him as he was my first captain when I made my ODI debut. So, obviously, we have some kind of understanding. I have spent a lot of time in the NCA when I was injured and he was there. We had regular chats happening all the time and he was closely following my game as well,” he said.
“When he (Dravid) became a coach here, we met and sat together in a room for a while and decided how we want to take this thing forward and he was pretty much on the same thought process as to what I was thinking. That made it a little easier for me to give out a clear message to the boys because we don’t want to create confusion among the group; and of course, we wanted him to change the style of cricket as well. We wanted to play a certain way in all three formats and he was ready to accept all of that,” Rohit added.
(PTI inputs)
