T20 World Cup 2021: “You always have to put the team ahead of yourself” - Rohit Sharma

Team India opener Rohit Sharma has stated that, whenever he goes out to bat, he always thinks about what the team needs in a particular situation and tries to bat accordingly.

34-year-old Rohit, who made his international debut in 2007, has gone on to become one of the finest white-ball players the game has ever seen. During India's tour of England earlier in the year, he proved himself as a Test batter as well, with some fine knocks under tough conditions.

Looking back at his progress in the game over the last few years, Rohit admitted in an interview on t20worldcup.com that he is a lot more mature now. He stated:

“From 2016 (when the last T20 World Cup was held) to now, I have gained a lot of experience playing. I am a lot more mature as a batsman now - understanding the game and what your team needs. You always have to put the team ahead of yourself and see what the team needs at that point. Try and take a moment and think, if I am going to play a shot, is it what the team needs at this point.”

He added that, as an opener, his job is to score maximum runs for the team, which is what all the top-order batters around the world need to do. Rohit explained:

“When you start the innings for the team, you have the best opportunity to play maximum balls, to get as many runs as possible. This is why you see that the number of hundreds that have been scored around the world in T20 have been by the top three batters. My job remains the same.”

Speaking about the changing nature of the game, Rohit added:

“A lot of hundreds have been scored these days and this is all because of the nature of the game and what has evolved over the years. People have gone on to play fearlessly and not thinking about what if they get out. That has worked for a lot of teams, including us.”

To see today's T20 World Cup match stadium, click here.

“If you don’t win the trophy, runs and hundreds mean nothing” - Rohit Sharma

One of the high points of Rohit’s career as a batter was the 2019 World Cup, when he amassed 648 runs with a record five hundreds.

Reflecting on the performance, the cricketer admitted that it was special as an individual performance but meant little since they could not win the trophy as India were knocked out in the semi-finals.

Rohit said in this regard:

“2019 World Cup was a very special one personally for me. I got runs and there was a procedure that I was trying to follow and it worked for me. If you don’t win the trophy, all those runs that you scored and all those hundreds mean nothing.”

The India opener will be in action when the Men in Blue take on Scotland in Dubai on Friday, looking to keep their slender semi-final hopes alive.