Ahead of the 3-mtach ODI series against Sri Lanka, skipper Rohit Sharma said that it was time to move on from the euphoria of winning the T20 World Cup and look forward to the new challenges that Team India will face next, including the Champions Trophy set to take place next year.
“I had a good time off from cricket. It was a great feeling to come back home after winning the World Cup…what we experienced in Delhi and Mumbai. But yeah, now we have to move on, cricket moves on,” Rohit said on the eve of the first ODI between India and Sri Lanka on Thursday.
“Whatever we have done in the past, that was good for that particular period of time, but time keeps moving forward and we also need to keep moving forward. That’s what happened after the 2023 World Cup. There was a lot of disappointment, but we had to move on and look forward to this World Cup. Now, that the T20 World Cup is over, we have to think about what lies ahead of us as a team. Yeah, there is plenty to look forward to, a big tournament coming up,” he added.
Talking about new head coach Gautam Gambhir, Rohit said, “I know Gambhir for a very long time and we have played a little bit of cricket together. He has a very clear mind and knows what he wants from the team.”
“Basically, our chats have centred around what the team needs, what are our shortcomings, where have we done well etc. It was a discussion on how to take the team forward. But we don’t want to plan too far ahead. We are here for three games, and the idea is to take something back from these three games, and learn how we want to play and what we want to achieve in ODI cricket,” he said.
Speaking about taking a call on who will be India’s wicketkeeper batter for the ODIs, the captain said that it was a tough decision between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, maintaining that both the players are “match-winners” in their own way.
Pant made a return to India colours during the T20 World Cup in the Americas, while Rahul will be eyeing his first one-day game since this January during the opening match against Sri Lanka on Friday.
“It’s a tough call (wicketkeeper-batter between Rahul and Pant) to make. Both are quality players, and you know the abilities of both the players. They are match-winners in their own way. They have won a lot of games for us in the past,” the 37-year-old said.
“It is not easy to pick a team or a player when you have quality like that. It is always nice to have problems like that while picking up the teams, so you know that there is quality in the squad. I look forward to these kind of problems till I am the captain,” he said.
