CHENNAI: And just like that India are back in the middle of another ICC event. Less than a year ago they were crowned world champions in the shortest format as Rohit Sharma lay flat on the field at Kensington Oval, Barbados soaking in all the emotions. However, as he leads India on to the field against Bangladesh at the Dubai International Stadium, that victory has no relevance or hold.
Not just because the Champions Trophy is a different format, but also the fact that a lot has happened since then in Indian cricket. Rohit's place in Test team is not a surety, Jasprit Bumrah is injured and out of action, Mohammed Siraj is dropped and more importantly, captain and head coach Gautam Gambhir are desperate for a moment of glory at the global stage.
While they are very much aware of it, the last thing India would want is to go in too desperate. For a tournament like Champions Trophy where winning five matches on the trot will take you to the title, every match, every win, every decimal in the net run rate is important. Rohit knows it all too well. "Although, the 50-over World Cup is a little different because you get 10 matches to play. So, even if you slip a few matches, there is always a chance to come back. But in T20 and in this, we have seen that there are two or three league games. If you lose one match, the pressure on you increases. Every game becomes very, very important. We all know this. But don't think too much about it and drive yourself crazy. I just feel that let the game start and let's see where it goes," Rohit said on the eve of the clash against Bangladesh.
What will give him and the team confidence is that this squad is more or less the same as that of the 2023 ODI World Cup, especially the top four. And each one of them have had a good outing against England in the recent ODI series at home. Rohit got a century and so did Shubman Gill. Virat Kohli got fifty while Shreyas Iyer showed why he should be on the team list no matter what. "When we played that ODI World Cup, there were only a few hundreds that we scored, but we went on to score quite a few times, 350-plus scores, or 330 scores like that. We will not be looking at the individual milestones and stuff like that. We want to play whoever the two batters are in there; they have to do the job. And the guy goes in after that has a job to do as well. So, if seven, eight of us think like that, we will end up getting the score that we are looking for," said Rohit.
While Gambhir's footprint has started to show in the team's approach, this is a format that brings out the best in Rohit as captain and batter. And as someone who has been through a rough period in the longer format, the 37-year-old will be itching to make a mark once again. It is the tournament where he sealed his position as an ODI opener 12 years ago, playing a crucial part in India's unbeaten run to the title triumph. Here, in Dubai, Rohit has another chance to stamp his authority as a modern day white-ball great, possibly for one last time at an ICC event. "You come here thinking that you want to lift the trophy, but there are so many things that you have to do right before holding on to that trophy. So that will be our goal, that will be our thinking, how we can think about just one game at a time and keep moving forward from there," said Rohit.
The first step towards it would be starting with a win on Thursday.
