New Delhi:
Rohit Sharma is on the cusp of achieving something special when he steps into the Arun Jaitley stadium against Bangladesh on Sunday. Rohit will be playing his 99th Twenty20 International and this will make him the most capped India player in Twenty20 International history, going past the mark of 98 set by MS Dhoni. Rohit will also be the captain of the Indian team and he will be hoping for continued success in the format, having led India to successes in the Nidahas Trophy 2018 and in the Asia Cup.
It has been a remarkable journey for Rohit in Twenty20 Internationals. He is seven runs away from becoming the leadiing run-getter in the format while he is already the leading six-hitter in T20Is with 109, going past Martin Guptill's tally of 103. Ever since his debut in the 2007 World T20, Rohit summed up his journey and gave an interesting perspective on captaincy ahead of the pre-match press conference.
"My job as a captain here is very simple. I am not a regular captain so my job is to take the team forward from where Virat has left. What I have done in my limited opportunities is trying to maintain what Virat has done previously with the team. Whenever I have been a part of the team, it's been about taking the team forward, whatever messages given to the boys, just to remind the boys what needs to be done," Rohit said.
Rohit advocated the need to shift from chop-and-change policy in order provide the youngsters a sense of security. Whenever India's top-order fires, the team stays in a good space but a weak middle and lower order has been exposed a number of times when that does not happen.
Also Read | Toxic Air, Shakib Ban Dominates India Vs Bangladesh T20I Build-Up
Asked if the team has zeroed in on, on this aspect, ahead of the World T20 in Australia, Rohit said, "We have lot of options. They need to get more games under their belt to be more confident and getting the job done. The team, a few years ago, was very much settled so there was not much room for a younger player to come and grab that opportunity," Rohit said ahead of first Twenty20 against Bangladesh. There has always been a chop and change between that number 4,5,6 and 7 as well. So now this is the best time for us to try these guys. Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Manish Pandey then Rishabh as well. There are a lot of guys who can do the job," Rohit said.
