The Indian captain laid bare his longstanding desire as skipper prior to the ultimate India-Australia clash to determine WTC supremacy.
Rohit Sharma is keen to break India’s longstanding ICC title drought with a victory in the marquee final of the World Test Championship (WTC) against Australia at The Oval. The Indian captain, however, doesn’t want to put too much pressure on his troops and is eyeing solid preparations and long-term growth.
Speaking to the press from London on the eve of the much-anticipated WTC final beginning Wednesday (June 7), Rohit said it would be “nice” to break the jinx and lift “one or two championships” before he calls it quits at the top level game. But that can be no cause for excess pressure on youngsters part of the squad and the focus shall remain on doing the “process” right.
Notably, the WTC final is Rohit’s second major ICC clash as captain since leading the Indian team to the semifinal of the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year. The comprehensive defeat against England at the Adelaide Oval lingers strong in the minds of Indian fans, who have been growing in frustration at the Indian team’s repeated failure to cross the last hurdle at major events for nearly a decade.
Across formats, the Indian team has been the more frequent entrants to the knock-outs stage of ICC events since winning the 2013 Champions Trophy in the UK. However, they’ve managed to clinch none, including a painstaking runners-up finish versus New Zealand in the previous WTC final.
“See, I obviously I’ve gotten the job to make sure that we take Indian cricket forward every time whoever it is, whether it’s me or someone else, even the guys before, their role was to take Indian cricket forward and win as many games, as many championships as possible,” Rohit Sharma told the press ahead of the marquee WTC final against Australia.
“For me also, it will be the same. I want to win games, I want to win championships. That is what you play for. And yeah, it will be nice to win some titles, win some extraordinary series.”
Also Read – Pat Cummins confirms Australia’s third seamer choice ahead of WTC final at The Oval
The Indian captain was wary, though, of his own wishes and ambition as captain posing a burden on his players, specifically the younger lot part of an Indian set-up approaching an imminent transition phase.
The likes of Shubman Gill, for example, who could do with a relaxed environment that allows him to constantly grow and flourish as an all-format cricketer for India.
“I genuinely feel that we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves by overthinking about these kind of stuff,” Rohit added. “As a captain, like I said, every captain wants to win championships, So I’ll be no different. I also want to win championship. And that’s what the sport is all about, winning championship. So for me, it’ll be nice if I can win one or two championships, as in when I decide to move on from this job.”
