“Every team wants to beat India. They take some pride in it. Let them have fun.Our job is to think about how to win the matches. We don’t ponder about what the opponent team is thinking about us,” PTI quoted Rohit as saying in a pre-match press conference in Chennai.”India has played cricket against almost every top team in the world. So, there’s no need to create a whole different strategy,” added Rohit.
The Mumbaikar wasn’t particularly concerned about pacer Rana, who can easily bowl at 150 clicks. Instead, he focused more on the Bangladesh team as a whole.
“See, there will be a couple of new guys in the side. But all you can do is to think about them and move forward. The same would be the plan against Bangladesh, i.e. to focus on our gameplay,” he noted.
Rohit also highlighted the importance of managing the workload of bowlers during a busy season, which includes a significant Border-Gavaskar series against Australia in November. “You want your best players to play all the games, but that’s not possible because there is so much cricket,” he said.
He expressed excitement about new talents like Yash Dayal and Akash Deep, who have performed well in domestic competitions. Similarly, young players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, and Dhruv Jurel have shown promise and maturity.
“Honestly, we don’t need to speak too much to them. Jaiswal, Jurel, Sarfaraz, all of them… we saw glimpses of what they can do. So, they have everything that is required to be a top player for India in all three forms,” Rohit noted.
Rohit believes the series against Bangladesh will test India’s preparedness in red-ball cricket after a lengthy gap since their last Test series against England. The team had a preparatory camp in Chennai to get ready for the series.
“It’s not easy when you don’t play (red-ball cricket) for a period of 6-8 months. But, see, the good thing is that a lot of guys in the squad are quite experienced,” he added.
He concluded by saying that the Duleep Trophy provided valuable preparation for players like Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan, who haven’t played much recently. “In terms of preparation, in terms of readiness, I feel, you know, we are quite ready for this game and what lies ahead of us,” he signed off.
