Very clear in my mind as to how I want to take this forward: Rohit on captaining all three formats

Rohit Sharma recently took over the T20I reins from Virat Kohli and is now also the Test and ODI captain and it seems that the 34-year-old is clear with his plans for captaining India in all three formats and how to balance it.

Under the Hitman’s captaincy, the Men In Blue whitewashed West Indies 3-0 recently and his next task is against Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series, getting underway on Thursday (February 24) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Speaking at the press conference ahead of the T20I series against the islanders, Rohit said: “I’m very clear in my mind as to how I want to take this forward.”

“Obviously managing the workload, not just me but everyone, will be the key moving forward. We’ve already seen a lot of injuries within our squad. So we just have to be very careful as to what we do with individuals and how we rotate them, how we give them that break time from the game. We’re trying to manage that, we are trying to put a roadmap on the sidelines as to how we want to move forward,” he added.

Commenting on his fitness, Rohit said: “As far as I’m concerned, at the moment there are no issues. I’m looking forward to playing all the games. Workload always depends on what happens thereafter, you take it day by day and understand what you need to do.”

“If there’s an opportunity for you to take a break, you’ll take a break and see the other guys who fill in, what sort of potential he has,” he added.

Further speaking on how to manage his team, Rohit said that all the players in his side are matured enough and he doesn’t want to put any pressure.

“I won’t have that much of a role of telling them each and everything. Obviously, they all are mature cricketers. But it’s just that someone needs to be there to help them, guide them in difficult situations. I’ll be more than happy to do that. That is how we’ve grown up, come into the ranks of becoming the captain. We were groomed by someone else. So it’s a natural process. If you talk of Bumrah, KL, [Rishabh] Pant, all these guys have a big role to play in India’s success. At the same time, they are looked upon as the leaders as well. So they do understand what they need to do as individuals and at the same time they do understand there is a responsibility on their shoulders,” Rohit expressed.

“But again we don’t want to put any pressure on these guys, they are very critical to us. We just want them to enjoy the game, come out freely and execute your skills,” he added.

Speaking about Jasprit Bumrah in the vice-captaincy role, Rohit expressed: “Honestly, it doesn’t really matter too much whether it’s a batter or a bowler being the vice-captain. It’s the mind that matters to the individual. I think Jasprit Bumrah has a great mind for the game, I’ve seen it closely. Yes, it’s a good way for him to step into the leadership role now. He’s obviously taken his game to the next level, I’m sure he wants to continue to do that even further. This is going to add and get him more confident in whatever he wants to do on the field.”

“It’s nice to have him as the vice-captain of the team in this particular series. Let’s hope everything works out pretty well. I know him closely, I talk to him a lot about cricket and I do understand what sort of cricketing brain he has. So it’s nice to have him there in that role,” he added.

India is scheduled to take on Sri Lanka in the first affair in Lucknow on Thursday while the next two T20Is will be played in Dharamsala on February 26 and 27.

After the completion of the white-ball series, the two sides will meet in a two-match Test series, beginning March 4 at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. The second and final Test will then be held at the historic M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru from March 12.

Notably, the first Test in Mohali will also be former India skipper Virat Kohli’s 100th Test.

News Desk

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