India captain Rohit Sharma has said that his team will not dwell on the past as they hope to end the long wait for an ICC title. India will take on Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final at The Oval in London starting Wednesday (7 June).
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The Asian powerhouse has not won an ICC title since 2013 (Champions Trophy) and has since lost in the final of an ICC event thrice — 2014 T20 World Cup, 2017 Champions Trophy and 2021 WTC Final.
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Rohit was asked about the decade-long drought in the pre-match presser and the Indian captain said that the team is focussed on the present and not on the past or the future.
“No, see we know what we have won and what we have not won. There is no point in thinking about it again and again,” Rohit said on the eve of the WTC final 2023. “Last year when we were in Australia for the T20 World Cup, we were asked the same question, and I answered the same question.
“The players know when India won and when they didn’t. I don’t think it is right to think about it again and again. You have to focus on the situation and how we can do better. All the players and coaching staff are focused on how we can do well in this match and win. Because what has happened and what is going to happen in the future, there is no point in thinking about that. It is very important to think about the present. Our team’s focus is on how we will win this match.”
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Rohit also refused to reveal India’s playing XI for the WTC final and said that the decision will be taken on the day of the match.
It’s the first time in 140 years history of The Oval that a Test match will be played at the stadium in June. Generally, matches are played at The Oval in the late part of the English summer and this can impact the teams’ combinations
Also with pace-friendly conditions in England, India would be torn between picking Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja.
“Yeah, look, we’ve been hearing about not much of cricket being played here in June, but the county season actually has been played here. We saw there was a game played a couple of weeks back here. So, it’s not like it’s the first game of the season happening on this ground. We are quite aware of what the conditions are, what is going to happen in the next five days. The weather forecast looks all right. But yeah, in terms of the combination, I think it’s better that we wait till tomorrow. That’s a common answer, I think,” Rohit said.
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Ricky Ponting recently said that the conditions at The Oval will suit Australia more than India, but Rohit is not worried about such an opinion and feels that the team that maximises the conditions will win the match.
“That’s his point of view. He’s allowed to give his opinion. Only time will tell which team has used the conditions really well. You know, the people who are watching the game, the experts, they’ll have their opinion, they’ll talk a lot of things before the start of a championship like that, a build-up to the championship. But honestly – for us, it doesn’t really matter because we know what is at stake and we need to focus on that. And that is what the team is going to do. Whoever uses the conditions really well, probably will win the game,” Rohit said.
“As simple as that. And also handling the pressure during the course of these five days because there will be times where the teams will be under pressure in these five days so you just got to adapt and handle that pressure really well to come out on top.”
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The skipper wants India to focus on the present but when asked about what sort of legacy he wants to leave behind, Rohit said that “It will be nice to win some titles”.
“See, I obviously I’ve gotten the job to make sure that we take Indian cricket forward every time whoever it is, whether it’s me or someone else, even the guys before, their role was to take Indian cricket forward and win as many games, as many championships as possible. For me also, it will be the same. I want to win games, I want to win championships. That is what you play for. And yeah, it will be nice to win some titles, win some extraordinary series,” he said.
“But yeah, like having said that, I genuinely feel that we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves by overthinking about these kind of stuff. As a captain, like I said, every captain wants to win championships, So I’ll be no different. I also want to win championship. And that’s what the sport is all about, winning championship. So for me, it’ll be nice if I can win one or two championships, as in when I decide to move on from this job. So it’ll be nice. So we’ll wait and see what happens.
“Tomorrow, we’ll start another challenge – the next five days will be quite challenging for us and gives us the opportunity to win the championship, but we do understand that winning the championship is not easy. You got to do a lot of things right to win the championship. Right now the focus is just on that, how we can come out on top and do well in this game. So the talks, the preparation has just been around that. I haven’t really thought about what is going to happen in the future.
“Honestly, it’s always nice because I’m somebody who’s always believed that what you have in front of you, focus on that rather than thinking way too ahead, what can happen in the future, what kind of things you want to do. But yeah, there are certain things that I’ve set in my mind that I want to do. So hopefully I can achieve that.”
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