India captain Rohit Sharma said he was pretty excited to lead the India team for the first time in a World Cup, adding that it gives a great opportunity for the team to do something special in the tournament.
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“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,” he said in an interview on the BCCI website.
Talking about India’s approach to the World Cup, 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.”
From leading India for the first time in ICC World Cup to the team’s approach in the #T20WorldCup ! 👌 👌
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💬 💬 In conversation with #TeamIndia captain @ImRo45!
Full interview 🎥 🔽https://t.co/e2mbadvCnU pic.twitter.com/fKONFhKdga
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 19, 2022
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The swashbuckling batter also said that Australian conditions will pose a different challenge for the players and that is why they had opted to come early to get used 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,” Rohit said.
India play Pakistan in a highly anticipated clash on October 23 and while Rohit acknowledged the massive hype around the match, he also stressed on keeping things calm and composed in the middle.
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“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,” he said.
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Rohit Sharma also said that they are taking it one match at a time in the World Cup and are not thinking too far ahead about the semifinals and the final from now itself.
“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 signed off.
