Rohit Sharma Not Willing To Treat Sri Lanka ODI As ‘Warm-Up’: ‘Quality Of Cricket Should Remain Same’

August 2, 2024 0 745

Rohit Sharma dismissed the notion of using the Sri Lanka ODI series as preparation, emphasising India’s intent to win and maintain high performance standards.

Fresh from their T20 World Cup triumph, the Indian cricket team is set to lock horns with Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI series. While the next ODI World Cup is still three years away, Indian captain Rohit Sharma has made it clear that his team is not treating the series as a mere warm-up.

“It’s not a practice ground; it’s still an international game. We will keep in mind what we want to achieve, but this is by no means preparation, practice, or anything like that. We want to come here and play good cricket and get something out of the series,” Rohit Sharma said in a press conference.

Dismissing any notion of experimentation, Rohit Sharma emphasised the importance of winning every series. “Perhaps it is tempting to see it primarily as an opportunity to experiment, but India feels it is a series worth winning on its own merits,” he added.

In fact, such is Rohit’s competitive spirit that even after retiring from T20Is, he still finds himself thinking like a T20 player. “I dunno’, I feel like I have just been rested from the T20s, like it used to happen in the past. Then there will be a big tournament coming up, and we have to get ready for T20 again,” Rohit said jokingly.

The Indian captain further elaborated on the team’s mindset. “Of course we want to try everything possible, but when you’re representing the nation, the quality of cricket should remain the way it is and how we’ve played over the last few years. That is more important than thinking about it as preparation and saying, Let’s go out and chill in Colombo. We don’t think like that,” Rohit Sharma said.

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Rohit concluded by emphasising the need for constant improvement. “Despite their recent successes—runners-up at the ODI World Cup and one step better in the T20 showpiece—resting on laurels is something the team will avoid as best they can,” he said. “In modern cricket, the game moves so quickly, you can’t let the opposition steal a march,” remarked Rohit.

The Indian team will be next seen on August 2nd at Premadasa Stadium, where India will begin their ODI series against Sri Lanka, which will be a three-match affair.