Rohit Sharma admitted that it was “very hard to watch” India lose the Edgbaston Test to England. But now he’s fit and available, recovering from covid-19 and will resume the captaincy duties in the T20I series against Jos Buttler’s team, starting Thursday in Southampton.
Speaking to the media ahead of the first T20I, Sharma lamented missing out on games for the country for reasons beyond control such as covid. Now, though, he’s back and ready to fire all cylinders.
The 35-year-old revealed that in his interaction with VVS Laxman, who was India’s interim coach for the Ireland tour and the two practice matches versus Northamptonshire and Derbyshire, he inquired about the players and the mindset of the group.
“It’s always good to be back playing for your country no doubt. You don’t any games for your country but certain things are not in your control. It’s beyond your control. Now that I’m back, I am pretty excited and looking forward. Speaking about my interaction with VVS Laxman, I wanted to understand what was happening with the team all this while,” said Rohit.
“This is the first day I joined the team. They have been travelling to Ireland and played a couple of practice games as well. I’m trying to understand what sort of mindset the boys are in. It was just about catching up on things which I wasn’t part of.”
When asked about whether the thrashing India received in the Edgbaston Test will have any affect on the T20I series, Sharma shrugged it off, saying, “It’s obviously disappointing to not come out as victors. The Test series was for India to win. That said, time will tell whether that loss will have any impact in the T20I and ODI series against England.”
India will look for their best eleven for the T20I World Cup
With just a gap of one day between the Test match and the first T20I, the selectors named the same squad that travelled to Ireland for the first match, with the only addition of Rohit Sharma. The big guns who are rested from the first T20I – Kohli, Jadeja, Bumrah, Pant – will return from the second match.
As India looks to find the best combination for the T20 World Cup, Sharma asserted that winning this series is also imperative in the preparations.
“With one eye on the World Cup later this year, this is an important series for us. That said, every game for India is important right now and we want to get our job done in this series as well.
“The hunger is definitely there whenever we are representing India. So, it’s not going to be any different this time too,” the skipper added.
