Rohit Sharma. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Ahead of the start of the first Test of the two-match series between India and Bangladesh, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma attended a press conference in Chennai on Tuesday.
India will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series at home, which is set to start on Thursday (September 19) in Chennai. Ahead of the series opener at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma attended a press conference on Tuesday, during which he said that every team wants to beat India, but the hosts are not bothered about what others say.
According to him, England also said a lot of things during the five-match Test series earlier this year, but India’s focus is always on its own game.
“Look at Bangladesh. Every team wants to defeat India. It is fun to defeat India. Let them have the fun. But our job is to decide how to win the match. We cannot even imagine what the team playing in front of us is thinking about us. What is their thinking? (Every team wants to beat India; they all enjoy that; let them enjoy. Our job is to win the match. We can’t think what others think about us).”
When England came here, they also talked a lot in the press conferences but we did not focus on any of that. It was important for us to bring the results in our favour. So our aim will still be to play cricket in a good way. Do not think too much about the opposition (When England came, they also spoke a lot in the press conferences, but we do not focus on that. We try to play good cricket and not think too much about opposition).”
Because now if you talk about teams, Indians have played cricket against all the teams, so there is no need to make a separate strategy. If 1-2 new boys come in the team, then after thinking a little about them you can move forward. But whether it is Bangladesh, Australia, England, Zimbabwe, Kenya, New Zealand, or any other team. If you play so much cricket in front of teams then you do not need to do anything different. 1-2 new people come in the team, you discuss about them and move ahead. So our effort will also be such in front of them that we focus on our game.”
Rohit Sharma being Rohit Sharma in Press Conference pic.twitter.com/Rckq4bTMHF
Rohit’s reaction came after Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto said that his team will try to win both matches against the Indian team in the upcoming series.
“This will be a challenging series for us but after having a good series against Pakistan, there is an extra confidence in our team as well as among all the people of the country,” Najmul told reporters in Bangladesh on Sunday before departing for India.
“Every series is an opportunity and we will play to win both the matches. (We will focus on) the things that we need to do for the win…the process is important and we need to do our job properly.”
