Indian skipper Rohit Sharma feels that test cricket is the most challenging format of the game and it would be great to win the World Championship title against Australia in Kennington, Oval starting on Wednesday. Team India will be desperate to end their ICC title drought for the country after winning their last title in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Rohit Sharma brought a breath of fresh air to Indian cricket, following the exit of Virat Kohli post-2021 T20 World Cup. Now, he has a chance to become the first India captain to lift the World Test Championship title after being eliminated in the league stage of Asia Cup 2022 followed by a semifinal exit against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Rohit Sharma believes that the longer format of the game is the most challenging format in the game and wants to win at least 1-2 ICC titles for the Men in Blue in the forthcoming big ICC events.
“Test cricket is the ultimate format, the most challenging format and it will mean everything for us to win it, I want to take this Indian team forward and win 1-2 ICC titles.”
Speaking on team combinations, the Indian skipper said that they haven’t finalized the playing 11 for the game against Australia, as the conditions keep on changing in England.
“Pitch and conditions keep changing. The message for all the boys is that they should be ready. We will see tomorrow and will decide who will play,” Rohit Sharma said.
The Indian team will have a huge task to choose between Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur for a spot in the final playing 11 and it will also be interesting to see whether India opts to go with Ishan Kishan or KS Bharat for the Wicket-keeper spot in the team.
I Thought Our Strength Has Been All Three Departments – Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma is proud of the fact that the Indian team has played consistent cricket over the last couple of years to earn their spot in the massive final against Australia and admitted the World Test Championship cycle is tough, as the team needs to do well in all three departments to make it into the finals of the grand event
“Overall, if you look at the consistent cricket that we played, we displayed good cricket all around,”
“It’s a very tough tournament. We’ve got to play consistent cricket throughout a couple of years to get here. You need all the departments to do well for you. And I thought our strength has been all three departments,” Rohit Sharma told the ICC
The two best teams in the last two years in red-ball cricket will come up against each other, as the world-class players in both teams will look to contribute to their team success in the mouth-watering encounters starting on Wednesday at Oval.