Rohit Sharma played down concerns about India’s form ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup after successive Asia Cup defeats, insisting the dressing room atmosphere remained “relaxed and chilled”.
India lost their second Asia Cup Super Four match to Sri Lanka with a ball remaining in Dubai on Tuesday to leave their dwindling final hopes at the mercy of other results.
“You don’t worry if you lose two matches,” Rohit, who smashed a 41-ball 72 in India’s 173-8, said in the post-match press conference.
“We don’t talk like this in the dressing room, because we have played so many matches after the (last) World Cup and won. I don’t think it’s a cause of worry.”
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If rivals Pakistan - who similarly overhauled India with a ball to spare on Sunday - beat Afghanistan on Wednesday, they will knock India out and go on to face Sri Lanka in Sunday’s final.
“There is no gadbad (disarray),” said Rohit.
“From the outside it looks gadbad but we have no such feeling. I know how the media reacts when you lose a match and there are questions raised, that is normal. You can look inside the dressing room that the boys are relaxed and chilled.
“We’ve worked hard to make the team atmosphere that way and all the boys are happy about it. If the dressing room mood is good, eventually the performances you see will happen on the ground. Before the World Cup, it’s important for us to keep the atmosphere good and not judge the boys by wins or losses, performances and non-performances. Because whoever is here, they’re all good. That thought we need to be consistent with.”
Sri Lanka chased down their target of 174 after veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar leaked 14 runs in the 19th over, leaving seven needed off the final six balls.
Kumar had given away 19 runs in the 19th over in India’s defeat to Pakistan, who needed 26 off the final two overs, but Rohit defended his bowler.
“Experienced batsmen get out and bowlers leak runs as well, these things are normal and happen,” said Rohit.
“Bhuvi has been playing for so long, and has worked for us for so many years in the ‘death overs’ and won us games. So we should not judge him on two or three games.”
Up and coming left-arm quick bowler Arshdeep Singh delivered the final over in both matches and faced a torrent of social media abuse, largely because he is from the Sikh minority, after dropping Asif Ali on nought in the 18th over against Pakistan.
Ali went on to smash a match-winning 16 off eight balls, but Rohit insisted the 23-year-old had been unaffected.
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“Honestly guys here don’t look too much into social media these days. Few losses here and there, one dropped catch, we don’t look too much into it,” said Rohit.
“Yes, he was himself disappointed because it was a catch that could have been taken but again if you saw his confidence when he came and bowled that last over... he is a confident lad.”
Rohit and India, who have a poor recent record in global tournaments, are under pressure to deliver at the T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November, having won it only once at the inaugural 2007 event.
Team combinations
Rohit stated though that the team combination is “90-95 percent” settled, as the team aims to put in the finishing touches to their T20 World Cup preparation.
“It’s 90-95% settled, just a few changes that will happen,” he said.
“When you talk about experiments, yes, we wanted to try out certain things. If you look at the combination we have been playing before the start of the Asia Cup, it was with four seamers, two spinners and the second spinner was an all-rounder. I always wanted to try and find answers as to what happens if you play with three seamers and two spinners, and the third spinner being an all-rounder.
“When you’re playing against quality opposition, you want to challenge yourself. This was missing in our books; we’d never tried that combination. We wanted to try and see what happens here as well. In hindsight, our fourth seamer [Avesh Khan] who was here was not available for selection for the last two games because he was sick.
“Yes, there are a lot of questions we need to answer, and along the way, in the three-four series we’ve played, we have found some answers. There will be a time where we will draw a line and say, ‘this is the combination we want to play for the World Cup.’ After this, we have two more series and then the World Cup. Till our squad is announced, we can try out a few players.”
The 35-year-old was also asked about the decision to pick Rishabh Pant over Dinesh Karthik, but, as Rohit put it, it was simply to make sure there was a left-hander in the line-up after Ravindra Jadeja got injured.
“We wanted a left-hander to bat in the middle,” Rohit said. “That’s why Dinesh Karthik is out. Not because of form or anything. We wanted a left-hand batter in the middle to take pressure off, but it didn’t happen. But by no means DK has been dropped because of poor form. We always want to have flexibility in the group. We will keep changing players every now and then depending on the opposition. Four-five batters will play, but there will always be those one-two changes in the batting,” he added.
India last lifted the 50-over World Cup in 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013, though they did win the last Asian Cup in 2018, when it was played in 50-over format.
India failed to make the semifinals of last year’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and lost in the semifinals at the 2019 50-over World Cup in England.
“In tournaments like the World Cup, Asia Cup, here the challenge is you face different teams with different plans,” said Rohit.
“We have discussed this in the dressing room that we should be thinking ahead of the opposition and then we will get results,” he said.
“But we should not think about it too much. Yes, pressure is there, and our work is to make the boys realise how to deliver in pressure situations.”
(With inputs from AFP)