India just won the World T20 Cup. Another three years will pass until the next ODI World Cup. But Rohit Sharma says, so what? Top-tier international cricket is still being played in this three-match series versus Sri Lanka.
Though it may be tempting to view it mainly as a chance to try new things, India believes the series has enough value to win on its own. Rohit’s competitive nature is so ingrained that, despite his retirement from Twenty20 internationals and his ineligibility for selection in the recently concluded series, he still firmly believes that he is a Twenty20 international player.
“I dunno’, I feel like I have just been rested from the T20s, like it used to happen in the past,” Rohit said jokingly. “Then there will be a big tournament coming up and we have to get ready for T20 again.”
The men’s team from Sri Lanka isn’t exactly the best in ODI opponents right now; they finished eighth in the World Cup last year and missed out on winning the Champions Trophy the following year. However, Rohit stated that India is still determined to give the series their best effort.
“You get asked a lot whether this series is a preparation for the World Cup, or is this a preparation for the Champions Trophy,” he said. “It’s not a practice ground – it’ still an international game. We will keep in our minds what we want to achieve, but this is by no means preparation or practice or anything like that. We want to come here and play good cricket and get something out of the series.
“Of course we want to try everything possible, but when you’re representing the nation the quality of cricket should remain the way it is, and how we’ve played over the last few years. That is more important, rather than thinking about it as a preparation and saying let’s go out and chill in Colombo. We don’t think like that.
“When we play a series and when we play a game, we want to get something out of that. We might tell a bowler: ‘We want something different from you.’ We might tell a batter: ‘This is how we want you to play in the middle overs.’ We want to get something out of the series, but not at the cost of going out there and having no intent or purpose. For me the standard of Indian cricket is more important.”
Even though they placed second in the ODI World Cup and performed better in the T20 championship match, Rohit stated that the team will do everything in their power to avoid resting on their laurels. The speed at which modern cricket is played means that you cannot allow the opposition to get the upper hand.
“In terms of what we want to do – it’s not just one particular area we’re looking to improve, it’s the overall game. In sports you can’t just sit happy doing something. You have to keep moving forward, and you have to keep moving up and challenge yourself. There’s always something new to learn when you play a series and when you play a game. Whatever we have done, it was good for that particular time, but time keeps moving forward.”