Rohit Sharma previews India's Champions Trophy opener with Bangladesh
19/02/2025
iCC25
19/02/2025
iCC25
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00:00Hi Rohit. Every team enters a competition hoping to win it, but this one would be a
00:07special title considering that the tournament hasn't followed a set cycle. It's not like
00:12the World Cup, so it comes after a while. So this would be a special title for you?
00:18Look, it's happening after 2017, which is almost 8 years now. But look, every title,
00:32every ICC trophy that you play, it is so important. And not just this Champions Trophy, but the
00:40previous World Cups that we played, they were all important for us. And it's no different
00:47here. ICC Champions Trophy, again, a very important tournament for all of us. And yeah,
00:54you come here thinking that you want to lift the trophy, but there are so many things that
00:59you have to do right before holding on to that trophy. So I think as a team, our focus
01:05will be on that, how we can do things right on the field and how we can move forward.
01:12So that will be our goal, that will be our thinking, how we can think about just one
01:18game at a time and keep moving forward from there. So yes, to answer your question, it's
01:22a very, very important tournament.
01:27Hi, Rohit bhai. Rohit bhai, if we look at the combination of other teams, of course,
01:32India has to play all the matches in Dubai. The combination of 5 spinners that you selected,
01:36what was the thought behind it?
01:40There are 2 spinners, the rest are all-rounders. So I'm not looking at them as a 5-spinner.
01:46You know, those 3 guys can bat and can bowl also. In other teams, there are fast bowlers
01:55and all-rounders, so they say that they have 6 fast bowlers, it's good. But we work on
02:03that and try to run the team on that. Those 3 guys, Jadeja, Aksar, Vashi, give us a different
02:12dimension to the game, to our combination, to our squad and they add a lot to this team
02:19and give us a lot of depth. That is why we wanted to try and get the players who can
02:26have 2 skills rather than 1 skills.
02:31Rohitji, the other night we saw you batting to 2 local net bowlers and I think 2 of them
02:38at least hail from Pakistan. What was it like batting? Because from where we were seated,
02:42it looked like their pace was really fast.
02:45Both of them were really good bowlers. I got a lot of feedback from our batters that they
02:54were really, really good. That's about it. We had a little bit of time to chat with them
03:01as well. They live here. Other than that, I don't know much about them. This was the
03:10first time we saw them and they were both really, really quality bowlers.
03:15Rohit, having scored heavily in this stadium last series, you even hit a century against Pakistan.
03:24What is it that is needed to get an upper hand here when compared with other venues?
03:34I think it's about assessing the pitch as quickly as possible and then you let your
03:42batsmanship, you let your experience, you let your mind take over. That's what I've
03:50done here. Whenever I've played here, we've played a lot of cricket here in the recent
03:54past. It does assist all types of bowlers. So as a batter, you need to be just slightly
04:02mindful of that and try and assess as quickly as possible. And that is what I've done
04:09here. Whenever you play here, not just here, but anywhere you play, you try and assess
04:12as quickly as possible and then let your instinct, your batsmanship and the situation of the
04:20team take over. And that is what I've tried to do here.
04:25Hi Rohit, this is Sanjeevani from Bowl India News. Definitely the pitch for Dubai is not
04:30that great for spinners and we also don't have Wumrah in the squad. You rightly mentioned
04:35we have two spinners and three all-rounders. How is Team India well in a position to face
04:39the opposition team in Champions Trophy 2025?
04:43We'll play this tournament as we've played any other tournaments, whether it is ICC
04:50tournaments or whether it is any other series that we play for India. Playing for India
04:56means a lot to all of us. And then going out there and representing the country, not just
05:02me, but the other 14 guys in the squad will do the same thing. There will be times where
05:09you will miss certain players, but I think there is enough quality, enough depth, enough
05:16experience in the team for us to come here quite confident and be confident about what
05:23we want to do here. And then see how it goes. It's very easy for anyone or all of us to
05:33think far ahead and forget about what we need to do tomorrow. So I think we'll just think
05:40about what we need to do tomorrow and then take it from there.
05:45Rohit, not a lot of one-dayers for India last year. In that context, to have this series
05:51against England and not just the victory margin, but the fact that so many good things came
05:56out of that, what does that tell you going into this tournament?
06:00Playing that series, we knew there's not enough games that we have before this tournament,
06:07but I think whatever we spoke of, whatever as a team we wanted to do, the ethics of this
06:15team, the brand of this team that we wanted to play, I think we pretty much did that in
06:22all games. When you're playing a series before a tournament like that, you want to try and
06:33tick off certain boxes and I thought we ticked off those boxes. We played very good cricket,
06:41we batted well and we bowled pretty well, got the team restricted for a below par score
06:59on three occasions. So twice we bowled first, once we batted and we posted 350-odd runs
07:08All in all, I think it was a good series, but I said it before the series started,
07:17that we wanted to do things where we left off in the World Cup and carry on that kind
07:23of momentum into that England series and from there onwards to the Champions Trophy.
07:30But we do understand that every series we play is a different challenge, every venue
07:43has its own challenge and Dubai obviously will be a different challenge. So quickly
07:49assessing what's required to do here tomorrow will be the key for us. So if we can assess
07:55quickly and adjust our batting or bowling quickly, that will help us moving forward.
08:05My question is regarding the conditions. We had a very unusual scenario yesterday
08:10where we had overcast conditions and it kept raining here in Dubai. It's expected to
08:14be overcast on match day as well. How does that alter your plan in terms of what you
08:19thought when the team was selected and when you come here with the overcast conditions
08:24and also dew we know is a major factor here in Dubai. You've been here for a few days,
08:27what have you noticed with that?
08:32See, I'm not too sure about the dew. Dew is a very unknown factor to all of us and
08:38it is very unpredictable because for us in India, we are so much aware of certain conditions
08:48and certain venues that also surprised us a little bit when we played in Nagpur. The
08:53previous day before the game there was so much dew but during the game there was no
08:58dew. So you can't really think too much about that and prepare based on that. In terms of
09:06the conditions, the overhead conditions, I think it's not a massive difference where
09:15you're playing in 28-30 degrees to a 10 degree or a 15 degree. It is going to be overcast.
09:23If it is, we have the arsenal to combat that. If there are conditions which is helping the
09:30bowlers with the overhead conditions, the bowlers are there to exploit that and the
09:38batters, if we bat in those overhead conditions, they exactly know what to do.
09:44Yeah, Rohit Josh Butler said after that series that the big difference was India's top
09:51batsmen getting 100s. He was referring to your 100s during the course of conversation
09:55with Michael Atherton and Nasser Zain in Sky Sports. How much of this conversation goes
10:01on in your team and they also said that there is a 20-20 style of play reflected more in
10:07Mohanty cricket now.
10:11What is the question?
10:12No, no, the question is were the top 3 or 4 batsmen getting 100s for big totals?
10:17Yeah, of course. That's the key to have success in this format. Your top 3, 4, 5 batsmen
10:25needs to get that big score for you to post a big score eventually. So I think our top
10:334 batters are quite experienced and we know that once they are set, once they are in,
10:37they like to get those big runs. So they do understand that and everyone understands
10:46that between your top 4, one has to get that big score. And in the World Cup, we have seen
10:54it as well when we played that ODI World Cup. There were only few 100s that we scored but
11:01we went on to score quite a few times 350 plus scores or 330 scores like that.
11:08So I think it's about all 7-8 batters chipping in whether you get big score or not.
11:14But all 7 or 8 batters need to contribute and whatever the responsibility, whatever the understanding
11:20that we have of them, it's all about putting those contributions ahead.
11:27I have seen it in the recent past where even without scoring a 100, the teams have managed
11:33to get par score or above par score in ODI format because everybody wants to chip in
11:40and everybody has chipped in. That will be our focus. We will not be looking at the individual
11:47milestone and stuff like that. We want to play whoever the 2 batters are in there,
11:54they have to do the job and the guy goes in after that has a job to do as well.
11:59So if 7-8 of us think like that, we will end up getting the score that we are looking for.
12:05So it's just about everyone contributing to the cause.
12:09Rohit, are you happy with the form of your deputy Shubman Gill considering he struggled a bit in Australia
12:16and after that he has come back with good runs in the series against England?
12:22Gill is a very classy player. There was never a doubt about his ability in this squad.
12:29We tend to mix formats and I don't think that's the right way to judge any player.
12:38Certain players have their strength in certain formats and if the one format doesn't go well,
12:44it doesn't mean that the other format will be the same.
12:48It's there for all of us to see what happened in Australia. Things have changed,
12:53certainly in a different format. With Gill, we know the numbers are crazy.
13:00If you look at it, he has been superb for us in the last 3-4 years that he has batted.
13:09Obviously there is a reason that he has been elevated to be the vice-captain of the team as well.
13:17He has a great tournament and it will eventually help us achieve the things that we are looking to achieve.
13:29Rohit, you will be playing all your games here in Dubai.
13:35The surface here produces results that are helpful for the chasers. Toss plays a vital factor actually.
13:43In that context, the 21 World Cup, 21 IPL, even ILT 20 recently, the chasing team was winning.
13:53Luck plays a very big factor and you will be playing all the games here.
13:57What is your perspective on that?
14:00Look, I never go with a set plan of thinking about this.
14:09In this venue, this has worked for certain teams, so we should try and do that.
14:14Whatever works for us, we will try and do that, whether it is batting second or batting first.
14:19I have still not seen the pitch. We need to still see the pitch and talk to the groundsmen
14:28about the conditions of the ground and stuff like that.
14:30Whatever the recent games have been played here were all T20 formats.
14:37I don't know if it is the right thing to look at that and do our judgement.
14:43I think it is important that whatever we feel is comfortable doing against certain opposition.
14:51Because all oppositions are different.
14:53Some oppositions like to bat first and put runs on the board.
14:57So we would think about it, whether we want to make them bat first or not.
15:02It works like that with me at least, if I have to be really honest.
15:07I think like that where there are certain things, yes, that we want to do as a team.
15:14But you have to look at the opposition, what they are comfortable doing as well.
15:20There will be a lot of chat around that with me and Gigi and the other boys as well.
15:26And we will do whatever is necessary for the team, whatever is right we feel, we will try and do that.
15:32Rohit, you had a chance to look at Kuldeep and Shami returning from injury in the England series.
15:39Are they back to their best in terms of bowling fitness?
15:42Bowling fitness, they are fine.
15:45Again, Shami has played only two international games and took a couple of T20s as well.
15:51All we wanted with Shami was to get back wearing their India colours more than anything else.
15:56Whether he gets wickets or not, that was completely immaterial for us at that point.
16:00We wanted him to get back to playing for India and he has done that.
16:05And whatever I have seen of him so far, he looks perfectly fine, absolutely fine.
16:11When you talk about a bowler like Shami, who has done the job over the years so many times for us,
16:18for them it is just about getting back to their rhythm and hopefully he can find some rhythm early on in this tournament and help the team.
16:27Kuldeep, again very similar, was injured, had a hernia operation just after that New Zealand series
16:35and was out of action for two and a half months.
16:38For him also it was important to get back playing and get back into that rhythm.
16:42The two games that he played, the numbers will not show.
16:46With certain players, you don't have to look at numbers so much and in detail.
16:51For certain players, it is just about getting back to playing.
16:55The numbers will come and that is what, as a captain, as a coach, our faith is in with certain players.
17:05And whatever prep he has had coming here, he looks good, looks quite confident in what he wants to do.
17:14And if these two guys are in form, the team looks very, very different.
17:21Rohit, you always say that when you play for India, every match is important.
17:28But the format of this tournament, the four groups, every match becomes very big.
17:34Because if you play well, you move forward and if you play badly, you slip.
17:39According to this, the format of the tournament and the importance of the first match, what do you say?
17:45See, whatever format you play for the ICC, I think it becomes very important.
17:50Because whether it is the T20 World Cup or the ODI World Cup or the Champions Trophy,
17:57in these three formats, you don't have as many chances to come back.
18:06Although the 50-over World Cup is a little different because you get 10 matches to play.
18:14So even if you slip a couple of matches, there is always a chance to come back.
18:19But in T20 and in this, we have seen that there are two or three league games.
18:25If you lose one of them, the pressure on you increases.
18:30So every game becomes very, very important. We all know this.
18:36But don't think too much about it and drive yourself crazy.
18:40I just feel that let the game start and let's see where it goes.
18:46Varun Chakravorty has been discussed all over the world.
18:55How do you face him during the nets? Do you still think that he is a mystery bowler?
19:07He doesn't give us much variation in the nets.
19:12He bowls in the same way.
19:14Maybe he doesn't even want to show us what he has.
19:21But that is a good thing.
19:23If he has got a certain weapon that he wants to just put it out there when it actually matters,
19:34I am more than happy if he wants to do that.
19:38But he has got something different, which is why he is here with us.
19:45Whatever we have seen in the last 8-9 months, it has been very impressive.
19:53That's why we had to bring him here and see what he has.
20:00What can the team do for India at such a stage?
20:04Let's see now what happens.
20:07It's just about executing that on the field.