Cricket‘First we want all players to be available’ – Rohit Sharma on toughest hurdles for ICC tournaments
It has been a decade since India last won an ICC title. The 10th anniversary of their Champions Trophy triumph in June was a troubling memory after their recent World Championship defeat against Australia. In the past few years, Indian cricket has boasted many players but has been unable to win the World Championship title. The team has suffered a number of defeats in semi-finals and four defeats in finals during the ten-year period. Recently, when Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was asked what is the final puzzle in the Indian lineup, he said, “First of all, I want all my players to be available. I want them all to be 100 percent. We don’t want any injury concerns.
Bumrah is absent from the team since last year
Starting today, India will play their first test match of the West Indies series, but there are many key players who are missing from the team, such as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. While Bumrah is recovering from the injury from last year, Shami is given rest for this series. He has been the spearhead of India’s pace attack in Bumrah’s absence, as the latter last featured for India in September last year. He missed the T20 World Cup and, recently, the WTC final as well. With the World Cup 2023 coming up, Bumrah’s fitness is still a major concern.
Rohit about India’s performances in ICC events
When talking about India’s performance in the ICC tournaments, the captain was determined to look on the bright side. He stated that although the team hasn’t crossed the line for a long time, as long as we keep ticking the boxes and doing the right things, everything will be better. Over the years, We have done a lot of good work. It’s just that sometimes you wish luck was on your side. As India is starting the new WTC cycle today, Rohit refused to consider the West Indies series a foregone conclusion and suggested that it was as important as any other match in the entire cycle. He also stated that the team played the last two WTC cycles and reached the finals but couldn’t win what they wanted to, now this is a new opportunity.
The Indian captain further stated, “Going forward, it will be a challenge for the team to adjust to new players as it is a new team. Many new players have been added to the squad, and they will keep coming. This in itself will be a different challenge in this cycle. Looking at the West Indies, they have a good record at home, so it will be a great challenge for India”.
