Full text: This is the team we are when we play fearlessly, says Rohit Sharma after Afghanistan win

India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma said the performances during the first two games of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup against Pakistan and New Zealand was a case of decision-making going awry and applauded the team’s fearless approach against Afghanistan on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

Rohit earned the player of the match award for his 74 in India’s 66-run victory.

“The approach from everyone was different. I wish it was in the first two games as well but it didn’t happen. But that can happen when you are on the road for a long time. Decision making sometimes can be a problem and that’s exactly what happened in the first two games,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference, reported PTI.

Rohit said it was a case of just having bad days, and that India are not bad team.

“The amount of cricket we are playing, it becomes difficult... every time you step onto the field, you have to make the right decision,” Rohit added.

“You need to ensure that you are fresh in terms of mental aspect. May be that’s the reason why we didn’t take some good decisions. Batting or bowling. Mentally, you need to get away from the game and freshen up your mind.

“But when you play the World Cup, your full focus should be on the World Cup, you should know what you need to do and what you don’t,” he said.

“It didn’t happen in two games but that doesn’t mean that we have become bad players overnight. If you have two bad games, it doesn’t mean that all players are bad, those who are running the team are bad... you reflect and you comeback and that’s what we did in this game. What’s in our hands we make fewer mistakes when we step onto the field,” he said.

Excerpts from what Rohit Sharma said in the press conference:

Rohit, what is it that changed suddenly? Was it the change in the venue or the fact that there is only one approach now on, that you just have to go for it, go for the kill, with it with the bat or the ball?

Yeah, to be honest, it’s very much that kind of a situation for us. We know that if we lose any game from here on now, we are out of the tournament, so we have to win everything, and when you are in that kind of situation, you have to play fearlessly, not think too much about what is happening or what is happening elsewhere.

I think the approach today from everyone was different, and I wish it was in the first two games, as well, but it didn’t happen. But that can happen when you are on the road for a long time. Decision making sometimes can be a problem, and that is exactly what happened in the first two games.

We are a very good team. It’s just that we were not good on that particular day against Pakistan and New Zealand. But yes, today the game we played, it’s pretty much sums it up that this is the kind of team we are, and when we play fearlessly, this is what we get.

How satisfying was it to get as many runs as you got against Rashid Khan as a team, and personally, as well, those couple of sixes to bring down against him, just that phase of the match? And secondly, your reactions to BCCI announcing Rahul Dravid as the new head coach, just joining hands with him looking ahead?

Yeah, I mean, firstly it was important for us to get off to a good start. If you talk about our batting, which didn’t happen in the first two games, that’s where we struggled a little bit to create that momentum in the first six overs, so there was a conscious effort. We were talking myself and KL, we were talking about it that we need to get the team a good start, and how we can do that is by playing our game, whatever that may be, however we want to play.

But yeah, we took our chances in the middle, and it came off, so that’s the whole game. You take your chances, it comes off, it comes off. If it doesn’t come off, the batter who comes in has to start again from the scratch. We wanted to take some risks because it was important for us when the powerplay is going on, you try and make the best use of that, and we took our chances, and it came off.

Yeah, is it official? Obviously we were playing the game, so I had no idea. Congratulations to him for coming back but in a different capacity in the Indian team. We look forward to working with him. He’s a stalwart of Indian cricket, and it’ll be nice working with him in the future.

Is it an answer to batting first or the pitch doesn’t play a role in a positive approach? Do you think so?

When you post a total like that, you can take the pitch, the conditions, the dew factor out of the play if you bat like that, if you keep getting consistently 200, which is a very, very challenging one to do.

In Dubai, we’ve seen the teams who have batted first have not scored as many runs as they would like to, but definitely dew plays a big part in the second innings. The ball tends to come nicely compared to what happens in the first inning. It just grips a little more because of the dryness in the pitch. But it’s definitely a factor and an advantage to the team batting second.

As long as we keep batting like that, we get 200, we don’t have to worry about the pitch and the conditions.

Some IPL players sort of played different roles for their IPL side. Did the team sort of need a little bit of extra time to ease into their roles with this team going out to the World Cup?

Not really, to be honest. All these guys, if I look at the top six, seven batters, myself, KL, Virat, Pant, Surya, Hardik and then Jaddu, these guys have been playing for a long time, so they don’t need to be told what they need to do in the Indian team. What to do for their franchise is their lookout, but when they come here, they know their role. It’s not that they’re playing the first game or the second game for the team. They’ve been here for a long time now, so they understand their roles, what they need to do, what they do for their franchise is really not my concern. What they do here at the moment is my concern, and we have laid out the role pretty clearly as to what they have to do when they go out in the middle.

These seven batters that I took names of, we’ve been batting consistently for a long period of time now, and nobody needs to tell what they need to do when they go to bat. It’s pretty simple. These guys are all experienced, and when you have experience in the team, it’s just about going in and adapting to the situation as quickly as possible.

First of all, a word on Ashwin’s inclusion today. He bowled a terrific spell. He was coming into the T20 side after 2017. What sort of conversation did you have with him when he was not playing in the England tour or now in the T20 World Cup, and another thing, how different was this pitch, different to the Dubai pitch?

I mean, the conversation with me and Ashwin was about where we should take our kids, which park we should take them. It was nothing about cricket, to be honest. We were only discussing – he’s got two beautiful daughters, I’ve got a daughter, as well, so we were only discussing which theme park we should be going to during our off time.

But you saw his quality today. He’s a quality bowler, without a doubt. He’s played so much cricket now and taken so many wickets, obviously playing for India in limited overs. He also knows that it was a challenge for him because he was playing after three or four years.

He was playing IPL consistently and he was bowling really well. He’s someone who’s a wicket-taking option. Any time you give him the ball, he comes to take wickets. He’s not there to survive or just to bowl his six balls and get away. He’s always looking to take wickets, and when you have someone like him in the sport and in the playing 11, it gives that advantage that you have someone in the middle who can take wickets.

That’s the quality of him. He understands his bowling really well and has bowled really well in IPL. He’s coming off from good form, as well, so I’m glad that he could contribute to our success today, and I hope he can do the same in the next few games that we play, as well.

How difficult was this pitch?

I mean, the pitch was pretty much what we played in IPL. Honestly, the pitch here doesn’t change too much. Just the dew factor when it comes on, just gets slightly better to bat in the second innings. That’s my reading about the pitch even in Dubai. When you bat first, slightly holding on to the pitch, slightly two-paced I would say, and then when you bat second, it’s just nice and easy. With the dew it comes on nicely, you can just pick your shots and play it.

With PTI inputs

Transcript courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone.