To beat India in India could well be among the hardest things to do in international sport at the moment. No cricket team could boast the kind of stellar record that India has in Tests over the last decade at home, but captain Rohit Sharma stressed on Wednesday that his team wasn’t unbeatable.
“Whatever record we have in the past decade or so gives us the guarantee that we are going to come out on top here as well and win the series,” Rohit said at a press conference on the eve of the first Test against England here. “We still have to play our best cricket that we know that we play in these conditions.”
He pointed out that England was the last team that won a Test series in India. “I wouldn’t say we are not beatable, we definitely are,” he said. “If we don’t step up or if you don’t show up, well, we are going to find ourselves in trouble.”
About Bazball, Rohit said: “We look to play our cricket, and I am not interested in looking at how the opposition is going to play,” he said. “We need to focus on what we need to do as a team, and take it from there.”
He said he felt for Shoaib Bashir, who could not join the England team in time for the first Test because of a delay in getting his visa. “Unfortunately, I don’t sit in the visa office and can’t give you more details on that,” he said.