It Is An Opportunity For Us To Do What We Wanted: Rohit Sharma

Adelaide: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed that he is absolutely fine to play the semi-final on November 10 against England at Adelaide.

“I was hit yesterday but it seems to be fine now. There was a little bruise, but it is absolutely fine now,” said Rohit in the pre-match press conference today.

The 35-year-old credited the Men in Blue for sticking to their plans and executing it well throughout the tournament.

“Absolutely it’s an opportunity for us to do what we wanted. We have done well in this tournament; we need to stick to what we are doing. Trust what we have been doing so far. It is a contest between bat and ball.”

Speaking about the importance of knockout matches, the Indian captain said that one knockout game does not define an individual’s career.

“I think knockout games are important. Because you get to play only once and there is one opportunity to do well in that knockout game. But for players what they have done in their entire career doesn’t define them by just one knockout game. You know the entire year you work so hard and to do well in whichever format you want to play. So that one particular game is not going to decide that. I think we do understand the importance of knockout, but at the same time it is important to realise what sort of effort you put in an entire year to come to that stage.”

“For us as players and as a team we can pride ourselves because we saw two of the quality teams that got knocked out,” he added.

When asked about the importance of Suryakumar Yadav in the team, Rohit hilariously said: “He (SKY) is a sort of guy who just doesn’t carry any baggage with him. Not his suitcases, I mean he has got a lot of suitcases. Honestly speaking, he loves his shopping. But when it comes to carrying that extra pressure, I don’t think he has that in him. And you can see that when he plays. And he has been playing like that for a year now. I don’t know if you have heard him talk at the interviews, he bats in the same fashion.”