- 2 years ago
India's Rohit Sharma previews massive T20 World Cup clash with fierce rivals Pakistan
Nassau County International Stadium, New York, USA
Nassau County International Stadium, New York, USA
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00:00Welcome to the pre-match press conference ahead of India versus Pakistan game.
00:12We've got the captain Roy Sharma here just for questions and I'll give hand over to Mulin
00:17for a short brief announcement.
00:20Before we begin we seek your cooperation we've got a large presence of media here so not
00:24everyone will get to ask a question so kindly understand.
00:36India a winning start and Pakistan a shaky start how much of a relevance is that to from
00:42this match point of view or does which hold the key?
00:48I think playing good cricket holds the key no matter opposition pitch I think you know
00:59what to expect from the conditions so you got to prepare yourself in a way that you
01:05know these type of conditions are there in front of you all so we've spoken about it
01:11what we need to do on these type of conditions we have had lengthy chats with individuals
01:17about what the game plan can be for the batters and the bowlers as well and try and control
01:27what is in your control which is to give your best which is to assess and play accordingly
01:35I said it in the previous press conference as well the first one where I said there is
01:40lot of experience in our changing room so when you come across conditions like this
01:47you know I expect everyone to make good decisions at least try and make good decisions of course
01:54it can go on either side of it but as long as you think and make decisions based on what
02:00you see in front of you you're giving yourself the best chance of having success so I think
02:06that is what we are going to try and do again we're going to approach how we approached
02:13the first game nothing changes for us we want to try and tick all the boxes in batting bowling
02:19and fielding
02:37Rohit we know that Virat always has had a stranglehold over the Pakistan attack especially
02:45in T20 World Cup how good has he been in practice till now because we didn't see him against
02:51Bangladesh and we saw him had a long batting stint yesterday and how important will his
02:56role be in tomorrow's game?
02:59Yeah look like everyone else I think I don't want to rely on one or two individuals to
03:05win us the game I think all 11 of us needs to contribute and of course there are key
03:11players who are going to play key roles for us but I think everyone needs to chip in in
03:17whatever they can in however they can in their best possible way and speaking of Virat obviously
03:26he didn't play that Bangladesh game but he's had enough training under his belt before
03:32this game you know he trained yesterday didn't had a great outing in the first game but that
03:39that is we're not going to look into too much of that you know again the kind of experience
03:45that he has playing all over the world playing in big tournaments nothing can beat that so
03:51I think like him there are responsibility on everyone who's going to play tomorrow to
04:00you know fetches those two points.
04:02Rohit you've spoken about staying in the present and all of you are professional cricketers
04:08but when something happens like what happened in the Ireland game where you got a blow,
04:12Rishabh got a blow what does it take for the batter who has got hit or for the guys sitting
04:16there to put that behind and just focus on what's coming next what how much does it take
04:20out of you mentally to do that?
04:22Look it's tough but that's that's when again I will come back to the experience part of
04:27it I think a lot of these guys are quite experienced and you know the reason they are representing
04:35the country out of 1.4 billion is because they are mentally tough they are different
04:40from the rest who are sitting back home they have everything with them they are slightly
04:46more you know I wouldn't say skilled but it's more to do with how mentally they think about
04:56it and when you are playing at the highest level all these blows that you get I don't
05:00think it counts for anything you know what counts is what's in front of you you know
05:07we saw many examples when you play in places like South Africa, Australia and you have
05:15to cross those hurdles you know the reason we won that Gabba test match was because of
05:20our mental toughness you know the last day when we were batting on that pitch in Gabba
05:26we saw the invariable bounce there and a lot of the batters got hit on their chest, fingers
05:33and these are the hurdles that you have to cross when you want to have success in international
05:37cricket it cannot be it is not going to be easy every time and these are the moments
05:45that you yourself as an individual want to put in and try yourself and test yourself
05:51so I'm sure you know all the players who are going to play want to be in difficult conditions
05:58difficult situation they thrive on this kind of moments so again you know it's the World
06:07Cup you know so nothing can get bigger than this you're playing for your nation in the
06:14World Cup I think the blows that you get or you take on your arm, your finger or on
06:21your head I think that can be secondary you need to put the team's cause first whether
06:28it is staying out there and battling it out and getting the job done for the team
06:33Rohit, it's the same game of bat and ball the bowlers do the same things that other
06:39bowlers do but when there's a Pakistan game or a semi-final or a final the stakes get
06:44higher the expectations change as players and as a captain how does like the leading
06:51in period change for you small markers like how your brain is working out what kind of
06:55sleep you're getting how you're feeling in the warm-ups etc does that is there any change
07:00in that or is it just like another game no not really nothing has changed from last seven
07:06months because we played them in Asia Cup and then the World Cup and now so earlier
07:12it was a different ball game because we used to play them every maybe once in four years or two
07:17years now it's a different ball game we you know we literally played seven months back in Asia Cup
07:23and the World Cup and here we are again now so for me I think nothing changes like you know I've
07:32said it many a times I want to approach this as another international game where you know I got
07:38to get myself recollected and you know make make those decisions on the field and I'm sure everyone
07:46will have their own way of dealing with games like this but I have my process I I'll think
07:51about what is right to do at this point in time being a captain I have to make decisions on the
07:57field so I think what's more important for me is to just think about what I need to do right now
08:03or this particular over you know not to even think of how much do we need to get after 20 overs or
08:10how much we need to bowl them out I think it's about that one over you know how we want to finish
08:16that over staying in the present and literally just kneeling down to maybe over by over and
08:23think about what you need to do in that particular over and that is where the skill of captain comes
08:31into play you know I'm sure other captains think differently everyone has their own way but this is
08:38how I like to think think about one that one particular over because this is literally a
08:43place where you can't think too far ahead you know game changes every over here so you need to think
08:50about you know that particular over and how you can win that one over and then move on to the
08:56next over so I think it's about that I know there's a lot of thinking that needs to go in these kind
09:02of thought process but I'm okay with that Rohit Rishabh at number three obviously there's a
09:08lefty breaking up three right-handers but you know this is a guy coming back after so much after 15
09:13months big leap of faith would you put this in the flexible category you think this is a role
09:18which he could play regardless of how he fares throughout the whole World Cup and maybe even
09:22beyond yeah I think see I had to look at Rishabh's just few games in IPL to make up my mind where he's
09:33gonna bat in the World Cup and when I saw him the first half of the tournament I was pretty happy
09:38and clear that this is where he's gonna bat and yeah with with a player like him you know the
09:48kind of ability he has it's always tough to find the right number for a player like him but I thought
09:57for for us particularly you know when we have three right-handers in the top four it's nice
10:03to have him in the middle where I think later on when we move ahead in the tournament the spin is
10:08gonna play a big part where his counter-attacking can come into picture in a big way since we don't
10:16have Jaiswal at the top you know we wanted somebody in the middle who can just go and play
10:22freely and Rishabh I thought is a guy and I've seen enough of him over this five six years now
10:28to know what what his strengths are and obviously there is a little bit of weakness as well but I
10:34would like to focus on the strength as of now and I I think you know he's got an all-round game and
10:42we want to utilize that upfront where he gets to play maximum balls along with some of the other
10:48experienced players so yeah and again I said besides the openers none of the guys positions
11:00are fixed as such we want to be very flexible in that and the message has been given to them very
11:06clearly about it that you know only the openers will stay stagnant unless it's a super over or
11:12it's a five over game but otherwise the openers will stay the same and then from number three
11:18onwards till number seven we want to be flexible and think what is the right matchup and certain
11:25guys love certain entry points in the game as well so we want to think about all of those and then
11:31try and head into the game. Rohit your ultra aggressive approach starts in the previous
11:40World Cup was crucial to India's successful campaign so given the conditions in New York
11:46I'm not talking about Miami or West Indies is there a need to change the approach or you will
11:51be like that because the once the ball gets older the runs are easier to come by. Yeah yeah I think
11:57absolutely spot-on I mean I want to play my game in a very balanced way I don't want to be too
12:06aggressive or too cautious also I want to find that right balance and depending on what the pitch
12:13is doing on that particular day I want to assess and play accordingly but having said that see you
12:20know someone has to put pressure on the bowlers to try and do something different otherwise it's
12:25a very easy game come and hit that length let the pitch do the rest unless the batters go and try
12:32and do something different the bowlers are not going to change their plan too much that's my
12:38understanding so yeah somewhere you got to be innovative brave to do to do take all those
12:45options but yeah like you know there is a reason we are playing with eight batters because someone
12:53has to go and play freely at the top and try and see if they can put pressure and try and get those
12:59runs quickly as well but yeah the conditions do matters and certainly in New York at least here
13:07it is not you don't feel that you can just go and play freely or swing your bat the way you do in
13:16the other venues so yeah you got to be mindful that's where I think I want to use my experience
13:20and play but having said that yeah I want to keep that balance of not being too aggressive and not
13:28being too cautious also want to stay in the middle the Pakistan team together they get the last seven
13:36eight months a very inconsistent cricket or a to each is a Pakistan keen consistency or it's not
15:43a New York man cricket or a Yamaha to Garnier to Hamlet chase a din host of the jada bit I but
15:53was maybe in charred in Barish way I'm a practice coming up okay Mila but how I'm gonna do match
16:01killer to do match the experience a but I'll be home to Pataniki swig it from match killing a
16:06y'all pay wicket hard in a lot of behavior so don't okay a same opportunity or a same conditions
16:14hogar to marry soaps a Joe team who's been a Chuck Rick it kill a key or a JT key naki
16:21I'm a jada time New York me but I don't have a conditions car awareness yada a drop in pitch a
17:02to a focus on a key a kick ball per ball are a it's gonna be a case a killer case a run banana
17:12extra TG up an asset as a team as a batting group as a bowling group or was strategy
17:48can you outfield both but I boundary line both but a or a key outfield a slew ball travel be
17:54naked or a year Joe important games rang a smidge okay choco case Jaga bag milka bag a
18:01kitna important rega keep runs bhagya Nikala kitna important rega no no bill cool the key
18:07I'm a boundary or Chuck a it any Asani say name it a toe obviously Apple gap my ball
18:44a lot of a first jar a toe to a unknown cheese a but Joe have a Joe condition have a manage
18:55Karna Paddy our guy Rohit a tournament a start a chakran important or the PCB team
19:03kill you up look a buzzer a start to a Pakistan car but a struggling start to a confidence
19:07built up kill you momentum built up kill you kitna important a body language calamity
19:10practice sessions be the entire team was very confident so how do you feel yourself and as a
19:17captain of the team going into this big game no see I'm pretty confident I think that body
19:23language plays a big part because that is very much in your control skills sometimes can take
19:29a backstage because of you know somebody performing somebody not performing but body language is
19:36always in your control and you can always perform with your body language on the field how you show
19:40yourself up for any game not just tomorrow's game but you know this is the World Cup we are
19:46talking about there is no room for complacency and you can't relax at any given stage because
19:52you know every team is capable of beating every team especially in this format in this tournament
19:58you know people have a lot of these teams are playing a lot of t20 cricket these days so you
20:06cannot come into a game thinking okay we can roll over any opposition your mind needs to be right
20:13there and think about how we can win this game and try and be 100% or maybe more than 100% in
20:19that game can't relax so I think that obviously starts with you know how you show yourself up you
20:26know how you start the game your body language and wanting to do something for the team in in
20:32whatever possible way if you don't have a good day with the bad you know there's always a chance
20:39you can take a couple of good catches run out create that momentum for the team create that
20:44energy for the team on the field so you know we we try and take our practice sessions quite
20:51seriously and try and make sure that we utilize that session because that is the only time you
20:58know you you get to get get together as a team where you know everyone can come together and be
21:03as a team so yeah you know you try and make the most of you know your training sessions that you
21:10get and because that like I said that's where everyone comes together we can talk about things
21:15talk about what we need to do in the game and you know certainly it helps going into with a very
21:23positive and clear mind frame you know whichever game you play thanks guys