Team India suffered a heartbreaking seven-wicket defeat at the hands of England in the rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston despite dominating the match for first three days.
Leading by 132 runs, India's second innings folded for a paltry 245, allowing England to stage a comeback in the Test match.
Chasing 378 to win, the hosts rode on unbeaten centuries from Joe Root (142*) and Jonny Bairstow (114*) to get over the line and level the series 2-2.
After the one-off Test, the focus now shifts to the white-ball series, slated to get underway with the first T20I on Thursday (July 7).
On the eve of the T20I series opener, India skipper Rohit Sharma addressed a press conference and said only "time will tell" how the loss at Edgbaston impacts the side in the long run.
"It's obviously disappointing to not come out as victors. The Test series was for India to win. That said, time will tell whether that loss will have any impact in the T20I and ODI series against England," Rohit, who missed the rescheduled Test after being diagnosed with COVID-19, told reporters.
"That was a different format and this will be a different one," he added.
Rohit Sharma hit the nets on Wednesday (July 6) for the first time since recovering from COVID-19. The Indian captain feels that the three-match T20I series against England is extremely important for them, bearing the T20 World Cup 2022 in mind.
"With one eye on the World Cup later this year, this is an important series for us. That said, every game for India is important right now and we want to get our job done in this series as well," Rohit said.
"The hunger is definitely there whenever we are representing India. So, it's not going to be any different this time too," he further stated.
The likes of Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant will join the T20I squad from the second game onwards since they finished playing the Edgbaston Test on July 5.
The absence of aforementioned first-choice stars would give fringe players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson one more chance to prove their mettle.
"There are many young players in this side who have rightfully earned opportunities to play for India through their brilliant performances for their state and IPL teams."
"England will be a challenging side for us. I am sure these (boys) who have been here for a while, played a handful of games against Ireland and a few practice games as well, will be looking forward to this T20 series," Rohit remarked.
(With PTI inputs)
