Rohit Sharma, the captain of Team India, has minimized the importance of the team’s No. 1 ranking leading up to the ODI World Cup, stating that they have more significant concerns to address. Nevertheless, Rohit acknowledged that being ranked No. 1 is a positive sentiment.
India’s victory over Australia by five wickets in the first ODI held in Mohali propelled them to the top of the rankings in the ODI format. Notably, they were already the No.1 team in Test and T20I formats. Their success in Indore further confirmed that they would enter the ODI World Cup as the No. 1 team in the 50-over format.
During a press conference before the third ODI in Rajkot, Rohit Sharma was asked for his perspective on India holding the top spot in international cricket rankings. He answered:
“It’s pretty good. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what kind of ranking you go in with, what sort of performances you have had in the past. Yes, it’s a good positive thing to take forward, but you know that sport is played in present. So, we’ve got to play very good cricket on the present day. I don’t think anyone will be worried about the rankings at this point because we have bigger things to worry about.”
The third match of the India-Australia series is scheduled to take place at Rajkot’s Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Wednesday, September 27.
“As a skipper, you would not look into all those things” – Rohit Sharma talks about the potential whitewash
A victory in the Rajkot ODI would result in a clean sweep of Australia, a significant accomplishment. When questioned about the chance of a 3-0 victory over Australia, Rohit Sharma provided a measured response.
“As a skipper, you would not look into all those things like a whitewash is on the cards. You would want to play good cricket, and you want to achieve certain things on the field. The last two games, I wasn’t part of it, but I saw a lot of it, and I thought we played really good cricket and achieved a lot,” Rohit commented.”
Expanding on the advantages gained from the initial two matches, Rohit stated: “We chased in one game. We batted first in the other game, got a decent amount of runs. We bowled pretty well in both games. We did pretty much everything right in these two games. There’s a bigger goal in mind, so focusing on that will be crucial for us.”
After the Rajkot ODI, India and Australia will face each other in their World Cup debut in Chennai on October 8.
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