Don’t like me or any player being judged by a knockout match: Rohit
Indian captain Rohit Sharma understands the criticism of his mediocre performances in crucial matches but he does not like being judged by him or any player for failure in heavy pressure matches. Rohit has not been able to perform as expected in the knockout matches in ICC tournaments in the recent past. He scored only 29 runs in the T20 World Cup 2014 final against Sri Lanka and 34 in the 2015 ODI World Cup semi-final against Australia.
He scored 43 runs in the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final against West Indies and could not even open an account in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against Pakistan. He could only score one run in the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Asked if average performance in crucial matches bothers him, Rohit said ahead of the T20 World Cup semi-final against England, “It’s not just me but all the players. What he did throughout his career cannot be judged by a single knockout match.
“You work hard throughout the year. No matter what format you are playing and one match can’t judge it.” Rohit, who believes in the present, said the past should not be forgotten. “Knockout matches are important and doing well in them gives confidence but the past should not be forgotten what the players have done in the past. The bottom line of what you have done for the team in all these years cannot be a match.” The boundary at the Adelaide Oval is just 60 meters and it is a big challenge to adapt to the size of the different grounds in Australia.
Rohit said, “It has been a challenge in this tournament. The size of the ground in Dubai did not change that much last year. We knew the ground was bigger on one side and there was no change other than that. But in Australia some grounds are big and some are small. One has to adapt to it.” When a British journalist asked about Suryakumar Yadav’s fearless game, Rohit jokingly said, “It is his nature. He doesn’t take too much burden. I’m not talking about the suitcase. He has a lot of suitcases. He is fond of shopping but does not take the extra burden or extra pressure. He shows a similar game.
