Former India captain Rohit Sharma has dismissed speculation over his international future, saying his sole focus remains on representing the country and contributing to the team’s success.
The 39-year-old’s comments came after he struck a blistering 138 off 110 balls in India’s unsuccessful chase in the third and final One-Day International against England on Sunday, amid reports that the match at Lord’s could be his last appearance in Indian colours.
The hundred ended a lean run in which Sharma had gone 11 ODIs without reaching three figures, a stretch that fuelled questions about his place ahead of next year’s World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. However, the opener retained the backing of the team management.
“My job is with the bat, come and play, represent my country, represent my team. That’s what I have been told to do since my debut so that’s what I am going to do,” Sharma said in an interview on the Indian cricket board’s website.
“The noise since I made my debut was there. And till the time I am going to stay here, it is always going to be there.
“So it doesn’t really matter too much. What matters is what I do on the field, try and contribute to the success of the team. That’s all my focus is right now. And let the noise be there. If there is no noise, there is no fun.”
Despite Rohit’s innings, India lost the match and conceded the ODI series 2-1.
India next travel to Zimbabwe for a three-match Twenty20 International series from July 23-26 before touring Sri Lanka for a Test series next month.
Meanwhile, captain Shubman Gill said India failed to field their best combination in the one-day series against England because of frequent injuries to players, a concern the team must address before next year’s World Cup.
India were without their premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his replacement Nitish Kumar Reddy also missed the tour of England with a quadriceps injury.
Seamer Harshit Rana and all-rounder Washington Sundar also picked up injuries at different stages of the tour while pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah missed Sunday’s decider, which England won by 26 runs to seal a 2-1 series victory.
“If you look at the first squad, we had announced (for the series), from that minimum five players did not play this match,” Gill said after their loss at Lord’s.
“If one player is injured, you look at playing another combination, two players are injured you look at playing another combination, but if after every match some player is missing then somewhere we are missing a trick.
“If you keep the World Cup as the goal where we have to play 11 matches in a row, here we have players not being able to finish a two-to-three-match series.
“So there is some limitation where our players are not being able to play continuously, they play one or two matches, they suffer a niggle and then we are forced to play a different combination which we originally did not plan to play … as a group we need improve our fitness.”
England racked up 387-3 against India’s depleted attack, while the tourists managed 360-7 in reply.
“Our bowling is a little bit inexperienced,” Gill said.
“We were put under the pump in this match and we didn’t respond well. We didn’t start well in the powerplay. We gave away too many loose balls and then were always chasing the game trying to take wickets, create something which didn’t happen for us.”
Source: Khaleej Times