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Indian Express

Rohit Sharma – ‘Cricket is not played thinking about what happened last time…when the toss happens, the (new) game starts'

It does not do to dwell on the past and forget to live, a famous wizard once said. On the cricket field, like in quidditch, the golden snitch has to be chased down every game, no matter how much past losses hurt. Rohit Sharma hurt like hell when Australia inflicted a home defeat in the ODI World Cup final on India at Ahmedabad. But he would return to win the T20 World Cup, on the way evicting Australia. Speaking on JioHotstar show 'Champions Waali Feeling Phir Se,' India's T20 World Cup winning skipper Rohit Sharma, recalled how he approached the Australia game in the Caribbean a year later, which now is a year ago. 'We knew that if we won this match, Australia would be out. That was a decent motivation for all of us. But cricket is not played thinking about what happened last time. Yes, you want to do well against them. But it is never going to be about the past,' Sharma said. Further explaining he said, 'That thing is in the back of the mind — they ruined our 19th November. Not just ours, but the whole country's. So, we should give them a good gift as well. Yes, in the dressing room all this keeps happening among us — between the boys. But when the toss happens, the game starts — then it is all about how you can do your best. When I am batting, I don't think — let's knock them out. It doesn't work like that. I have to focus on how I can play well against them. That was the only thought in my mind — how can I bat well and contribute.' This involved taking on the mighty Mitchell, from the house of Starc. Seeing him looking to contain had given Sharma confidence. 'My plan was to attack everyone. I've played against Mitchell Starc for so many years, so I had my own plans. The Australians are very smart. I felt Starc wasn't trying to get me out. When a bowler starts bowling wide and keeping the ball away, he's just looking to survive, to finish his over. For me, half the battle is won there. That knock was very special to me. Yes, hundreds are great, but some of the 60s or 70s, considering the match context and occasion, are bigger. It's the World Cup — it means a lot. So yes, I'd put that innings right up there,' he said. But Australia with their pedigree in World Cups remains a tough opponent. 'Australia knows how to win World Cups. Come the knockouts (and) finals, they really amp up their game. They know exactly what is needed — how to come together — because they've played so many finals. You have to give them credit. No team wins so many World Cups without having something special. I'm not just talking about players of the past — even the current players have that DNA. What the West Indies did in 1975–79, that era is long gone. But Australia? They're still like that. It's a legacy that's been passed down from generation to generation,' he said. Pakistan are no longer particularly formidable, but there's a tingle to those contests anyway. Sharma recalled the build-up to the India vs Pakistan clash. 'Before the India vs Pakistan match, we were told there was a threat — something was going on. So, two days before the game, we weren't allowed to step out of the hotel. The atmosphere started building from there. We were ordering food in, and the hotel was so packed you could barely walk. Fans, media — everyone was there. That's when you realise this isn't just another match — something special is about to happen,' he said of the American game. 'As soon as we got near the stadium, it already felt like a celebration — Indian fans, Pakistani fans, all dancing and enjoying themselves. I've played so many India–Pakistan games now — I've lost count — but that pre-match energy, that feeling… It's always something else. Nothing compares to it.' Rishabh Pant, the flavour of the season in Tests, had set alight that game too and specially in treacherous conditions. 'We just wanted Rishabh to be Rishabh — do all the things he does best, unsettle the bowlers, play freely. And he did that perfectly. His innings was around 42, and on that pitch, that's as good as scoring 70. It was a very challenging surface — something was always happening. The par score there was probably 130 or 140. We ended up with 119. Our plan wasn't to go for 200 — we were aiming for 140. But of course, we lost wickets along the way. And that's when Rishabh played that crucial knock of 40-plus, which really held things together. Eventually, we got 119 — and I actually felt it could still be a good score. Maybe 10–15 runs short, but I knew that if we got 2–3 early wickets with the new ball, that 119 would start to feel like 160,' Sharma told JioHotstar. On captaining Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh, Sharma said, 'With Bumrah, you've got to be proactive in how you use him. He's a wicket-taker, and at the same time, he's not going to leak runs. So, how do you balance that, especially when the opposition is chasing at a run-a-ball? Arshdeep has been phenomenal too. Over the last two years, there's a reason he's become India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is — he's a really smart bowler. So, with both of them, my focus was on how to use their remaining overs strategically. You think about which batters are coming in, how would they handle Arshdeep and Bumrah? On that pitch, it was tough for new batters to settle, so our goal was to force new guys to the crease. That was the plan.'