Ahead of Team India’s crucial Super 12 clash against Scotland, opener Rohit Sharma explained why team work is more important than individual brilliance in cricket. The 34-year-old also stated that when his team doesn’t win a trophy then “all those runs that you score, all those hundreds that you score mean nothing honestly”. Speaking to ICC’s official social media handle, the India vice-captain spoke about how his job has always been the same in his playing career due to putting the team ahead of himself.
“2016 to now, all I can see is of course I have gained a lot of experience. I have matured as a batsman a lot more than what I was in 2016. Understanding of the game, what the team needs, because you always have to put the team ahead of yourself and see what the team needs at that point. Try and take a moment or two and think if I am going to play a shot, is it what the team needs at this point”, he said.
“When you start the innings for your team, you have the best opportunity to face maximum balls. You get as many runs as possible which is why you see the number of hundreds that has been scored around the world in T20 has to be by the top three batters. So yeah, my job remains the same”, he further added.
Team India are currently in a precarious position in the ongoing T20 World Cup, having won just one match from three games until now. The Virat Kohli-led outfit began their campaign with a defeat to Pakistan and crashed to another loss against New Zealand.
In their third match, they sealed their first win of the campaign, defeating Afghanistan by 66 runs on Wednesday. The Men in Blue face Scotland in their upcoming match on Friday in Dubai and will be aiming to keep their dwindling semifinal hopes alive.
During his interaction with ICC, the swashbuckling batsman also explained that it’s easier to register centuries nowadays due to the evolving nature of the game. The Mumbai Indians (MI) captain was asked about the 2019 World Cup, where India crashed out in the semifinals against New Zealand. Meanwhile, he also revealed that his records or runs don’t really matter if the team doesn’t win the trophy in the end.
“A lot of hundreds have been scored these days. This is all because of the nature of the game and what has evolved over the years. You know people have gone out to play fearlessly, not thinking about what if they get out. That has actually worked for a lot of teams, including us”, he said.
“Yeah, 2019 World Cup was a very special one for me personally. Only because I got runs and it was good. There was a procedure that I was trying to follow and it worked for me. That was the happiness. You know when you go into any tournament, there is a certain plan which has been placed by you and you want to follow that. That is what I did and it worked for me. If you don’t win the trophy, all those runs that you score, all those hundreds that you score mean nothing honestly”, he concluded.
