Rohit Sharma, refreshed and rejuvenated after a month’s break post the successful T20 World Cup campaign, made it clear India will look to maintain the high quality of cricket it has played in recent times in the upcoming one-day series against Sri Lanka, starting on Friday.
The Indian skipper also refused to see the series as preparation for the Champions Trophy next year. “It’s not a practice ground; it’s still an international game,” said Rohit. “We will keep in mind what we want to achieve as a team, but this is by no means a preparation or practice.”
“When you are representing the nation, the quality of the cricket you want to play should remain the same as how we have played our cricket in the last few years,” he added.
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While India has been a strong force in ODIs recently, the 37-year-old insisted that teams can’t afford to stand still.
“It is not one particular area we are looking to improve; it is the overall game because, in sports, you cannot sit happily doing something. You have to keep moving forward and challenging yourself.”
“We also want to challenge ourselves and see what we can do differently as a team. There is always something new to learn when you play a series. Whatever we have done in the past was good for that particular time. Time keeps moving forward, and we also have to. We want to try to do different things and see how it pans out for us.”
When asked about the wicketkeeping slot, Rohit said it has yet to be decided if it will be K.L. Rahul or Rishabh Pant but felt it was a pleasant problem to have.
“It is a tough call; both are quality players. It is not easy to pick a player when you have good quality like that. They are match-winners and have won many games for us in the past. I think having this problem is good, and I look forward to having them till I am captain,” remarked Rohit.
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