India cricketer Rohit Sharma believes that it is too early to think about the ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in India in later this year.
The Mumbai batsman stated that the team will instead focus on the immediate task — a five-match T20I series against England, which commences at Ahmedabad on Friday.
“When you play for India, there is no question of rehearsal. It is important for us to win this series, and not think too far ahead. If you focus on the present, the future will be bright. We need to have the mindset of trying to win each and every game we play,” Rohit said in a media interaction on Wednesday.
On neutral umpires
Rohit was open to the idea of the ICC appointing neutral umpires for international fixtures, though he praised the Indian umpires for doing a great job in the recent home Test series against England.
“If players can travel, umpires can travel as well. Make them quarantine, make their lives difficult as well (laughs). But I think the umpiring in this Test series was brilliant. It wasn’t easy for them, given the nature of the pitch. They had to consider so many things — it was turning square, bouncing, the odd ball went straight. Considering all these factors, I think they did a terrific job,” Rohit said.
The 33-year-old is happy with his form, and the patience he showed in a 144-ball 49 in the fourth and final Test last week. “Whenever you do something that you are not used to, it counts as a small victory. When this happens, your confidence will rise. In the fourth Test, I made only 49, but I played 144 balls. That was a victory for me, because I curbed my instinct to play attacking shots. I didn’t fall victim to playing a bad shot,” Rohit said.
Hardik raring to go
The vice-captain explained that Hardik Pandya is raring to go. Pandya, who had stopped bowling after suffering an injury in 2019, recently posted a video where he is seen bowling at full tilt.
“He (Pandya) has been working on his bowling and batting. He has been with the India team in the bubble for over a month now, and has done everything to get ready for this limited-overs series,” Rohit said.
