Team India will kick-off their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign with a high-voltage clash against arch-rivals Pakistan at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday (October 23).
The marquee game will also mark Rohit Sharma’s debut as a captain in an ICC tournament. Notably, Rohit was appointed India’s full-time T20I skipper after Virat Kohli stepped down from the position in November last year.
Ahead of the match, Rohit said he is pretty excited to lead the national side for the first time in a World Cup, adding that the tournament is a great opportunity for the team to do something special.
“Firstly, it’s a great honour to captain. This will be my first World Cup as a captain so I am pretty excited about that. It also gives us a great opportunity to come here and do something special. Every time you come for the World Cup, it’s a great feeling. The boys are quite pumped up. We had a great prep in Perth,” quoted Rohit in an interview on bcci.tv.
Talking about India’s approach leading up to the showpiece tournament, the skipper said, “It’s a big event but at the same time, we have made a constant practice of not talking about it too much because it is important to be in the present and think about what you need to do on that particular day. That will allow us and help us to execute what we want to do on the game day.”
According to Rohit Sharma, the conditions in Down Under will pose a different challenge and that’s why they had come to Australia early to acclimatize to the conditions.
“Australia will be a different challenge. It was important for us to get used to the conditions. A few of the guys have not come to Australia before so we wanted to come here a little early and get used to the conditions. Even though it’ll be challenging, when I look at the whole group, they are pretty excited,” he stated.
There is a lot of hype around the upcoming Indian versus Pakistan clash. While Rohit acknowledged the hype, he also highlighted the importance of keeping things calm and composed in the middle.
“Whenever we play Pakistan, we know it’s going to be a blockbuster. People will want to come out and watch the match and feel the atmosphere. They would obviously want to enjoy the cricket as well but at the same time, the atmosphere in the stadium for the fans and the spectators, even people who are watching from home is pretty exciting. For us as players, of course it is a big game, the staring of our campaign but at the same time, we want to keep ourselves relaxed and focus on what we need to do as individuals because that is going to be the key for us. If individuals can keep themselves calm and composed in the game, we’ll get the results we are looking for,” the Indian captain remarked.
Rohit Sharma further said that they are taking it one match at a time in the World Cup and not thinking too far ahead.
“It’s been a while since we have won the World Cup. Obviously the motive and the whole thought process is to win the World Cup but we know we need to do a lot of things right to get there. So one step at a time for us. We can’t think too far ahead; you really can’t think about semis and finals from now onwards. You just need to focus on each team that you come against and try and do your 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 concluded.
