Somewhat echoing the words of Australian skipper Steven Smith, the makeshift opener for India, Rohit Sharma has thoroughly expected the players of both teams would play the bilateral series in the ‘spirit of the game’ which will be beginning from Sunday 17 at Chepauk.
“We have to wait and see once the tournament starts. But we have to play in the spirit of the game,” Sharma told during the press conference and was quoted by India Today while briefing the media persons in Chennai.
The Maharashtra-born 30-year-old right-handed batsman suggested the line needs to be drawn between the aggressive World No. 2 and No.3 in One-day Internationals sides in the gentleman’s game.
“We are two aggressive sides but there needs to be a line that has to be drawn,” Rohit maintained.
Rohit, known for playing longer innings also had a word with Australia opener David Warner when Kohli was furious at counterpart Smith, who deliberately looked towards Australia change room in Bengaluru, for the input over Decision Review System [DRS] when he was adjudged LBW by on-field umpire.
Earlier, Smith opined the forthcoming series is expected to be played in the good spirit after several players were involved in the verbal spat during the four-match Border-Gavaskar Test series earlier this year.
“I think it will be played in good spirit. It is a hard-fought contest playing against India,” Smith revealed earlier this month [September].
The 28-year-old Smith, who has come a long way following the astronomical rise, also stated Indian skipper Virat Kohli had been a batting force while having an extraordinary record on his back in the 50-over format.
“He [Virat Kohli] is obviously a very good player and has a phenomenal ODI record,” Smith added in his statement before going into the limited-overs contest.
In the context of the white-ball cricket, the Vice-captain believes the rich spirit has to lot offer, for the aggressive units after the players have had shared a bitter rivalry over the ground eventually.
“A lot of these guys have played enough cricket to understand that. We always come hard at each other and that’s what India-Australia cricket is all about,” Rohit added.
While making the statement, the senior batsman Rohit added top-order batter Dhawan’s nonappearance would be felt immensely in the line-up. Coming to the conclusion, Rohit has also hinted the talented Ajinkya Rahane could be an ideal option to face the new-ball after losing out premium batsman Shikhar Dhawan for the first three ODIs to see his wife, who is said to be unwell.
“We have great bench strength. Shikhar’s [Dhawan] absence will be felt. [However] we have a few guys who can replace him,” Rohit revealed.
Following the acrimony in the Test series which India claimed by 2-1 when the hosts won the Test in Dharamsala under the stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane, the players from both teams are looking for a healthy contest in the sub continent where Australia has been struggling on the spin-friendly surface.
Rohit has featured in 163 ODIs in which he amassed 5,737 runs at an average of 43.46. He smashed 13 hundred and 32 half-centuries, as the prominent figure with the willow also made 21 appearances in Tests and 63 in Twenty20 Internationals.