With the deadline for announcing the Squads for the World Cup 2023 ending on September 28, the Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma opens on Ashwin’s World Cup chances.
Rohit Sharma on Ashwin’s World Cup Chances
With a deadline nearing for finalizing the squad, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma hints about the return of Ashwin to the World Cup squad. He did not reveal any update regarding Axar Patel’s injury.
Ashwin has been absent from the ODI format for almost two years, his comeback for the three-match ODI series against Australia had proved the cricketing prowess of the player by dismissing three wickets at the second ODI.
On speaking about the spinner’s chances in the World Cup Squad Rohit said, “He has got the class. He has got the experience of playing the sport and handling the pressure. It is just that he has not played ODIs in the last year or so,” said during the pre-match press meet.
“But you cannot take away the class and the experience the individual has over the years and in the last couple of games we saw how well he bowled,” Rohit said.
“He has got a lot of variation up his sleeve and in case there is a chance, we can look at a lot of things. Hopefully, the way things are at this point, it does well for us because we have got all the backups ready. We have given them enough game time,” he said.
“I am very happy with the last 10 ODIs that we played. A lot of guys came back into form (by) scoring lots of runs and the bowlers are taking lots of wickets. In the last few games, we saw the guys who came back from injuries have proven their fitness,” he said.
“(We are) pretty much settled…how we stand, where we stand. Now, it is about taking this whole situation forward in the best possible way,” he added.
“As a skipper, you will not look into all those things as ‘whitewash is on the cards’ and things like that. You want to play good cricket and you want to achieve certain things on the field,” he said.
“The last two games, I was not part of them, but I thought we played a lot of good cricket, and achieved a lot of good things.
“We chased in one game, we batted first in the other, got a decent amount of runs and we bowled pretty well in both games,” he added.
“Tomorrow’s game allows us to test ourselves in certain areas — whether we can keep up with the consistency that we have shown in the last two games,” he said.
“It is pretty good (being No. 1) but it does not really matter what kind of ranking you go with or what sort of performances you have had in the past,” he said.
“Yes, it is a positive thing to take forward but sports these days are played at present. We have to play very good cricket in the present day and not worry about what happened in the ranking,” he concluded.
India will be playing their third ODI match against Australia on September 27 at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium before competing against England and Netherlands in the Warmup games.
