India desperate to win ODI World Cup: Rohit Sharma hopes to end ICC trophy drought
Skipper Rohit Sharma expressed the team’s strong determination to put an end to India’s ten-year ICC trophy drought in the upcoming World Cup. He emphasized that the squad is infused with a deep sense of self-assuredness and unwavering belief, making them well-prepared to clinch the coveted title.
India’s previous ICC victory dates back to the Champions Trophy in 2013, following their World Cup success on home soil two years earlier.
“Honestly, I have never won a (50 overs) World Cup, it’s a dream to win a World Cup and to be here fighting for it nothing makes me happier than that,” Rohit told the media here on the sidelines of an event.
“You don’t get World Cups on a platter, you have to really work hard and that is what we have been doing all these years from 2011 till now. We are all fighting for it,” the India captain said.
“Everyone is desperate to go and win, because we know we have a good team. We are all good players, that inner confidence and self-belief is there that they can do it. It’s not happened doesn’t mean that we take it lightly. When we lost the 2022 World Cup, I said we will keep fighting for the next World Cup,” he added.
“The World Test Championship was coming and I said we will keep fighting for it, no matter what. Kabhi na kabhi to milega (we will win it at some point),” he expressed.
While he is in charge of the team, Rohit said that his primary responsibility is to perform well as a batter.
“I need to do first as a batter. Captaincy is secondary… my role in the team is more as a batter. Obviously to captain well as well, (but) first of all, I have to score big runs and win games for the team.”
With key men such as KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer unavailable in the lead-up to the World Cup, Rohit said he is scared of injuries now but stressed on the importance of resting the players.
“Last year also we did the same thing — the T20 World Cup was there, so we didn’t play one-day cricket. Now also we are doing the same, the ODI World Cup is there, so we are not playing T20s,” he said.
“You can’t play everything and be ready for the World Cup. We decided this two years ago. (Ravindra) Jadeja is also not playing T20, you did not ask about him? I understand about the focus (on himself and Virat). But Jadeja is also not playing,” Rohit said in reply to a query about him and Kohli missing India’s recent T20 assignments.
“It is a World Cup year; we want to keep everyone fresh; already we had so many injuries in the team that I am scared of injuries now,” he continued.
Rohit revealed that the team’s management met with the BCCI to discuss player workload management.
“We had a discussion with the BCCI also that we need to look after the players well. Whenever we have an opportunity to rest players, we will rest players and rotate them. We don’t want anyone to miss the key events.
“A couple of our key players missed some big events in the last two years and we don’t want that,” he said.
