Rohit Sharma said that personal milestones don't matter and the mission is to win the World Cup.
Indian ODI Vice Captain Rohit Sharma was in his usual jolly best after slamming fifth World Cup hundred which ensured India thump Sri Lanka to end with 15 points. By virtue of Australia losing to South Africa, India ended as table toppers after the end of the gruelling league stage on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma who is on a purple patch in this world cup told journalists in the press conference about how he is coping with the pressure, how he is not counting personal milestones and also regarding the tips given by Yuvaraj Singh during the World Cup.
When a journalist asked him if he is taking motivation from the fact that he missed out the bus in 2011, when India lifted the cup after 28 years in Mumbai, Rohit Sharma replied in the negative.Sharma has spoken earlier about how that exclusion came as a reality check for him, and spurred him to lift his game.
But eight years and several records after, Rohit Sharma is is no mood to harp on the past. While acknowledging that it was disappointing at that time, Hitman said that he has moved past that and doesn't really think about that now.
Rohit Sharma is also just 26 runs away from Sachin Tendulkar's record of highest runs in a single edition of a World Cup, which he did in South Africa, 2003 when India reached final. But Rohit seemed to be genuinely unaware that he is cusp of a major record and said that the team's goal is to finish the mission of winning World Cup and they aren't chasing personal glories.
With agency inputs
1. Sharma recollects chat with Yuvraj Singh
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Earlier Yuvraj Singh had revealed on Twitter about how he had told Rohit Sharma not to worry about getting big runs saying that hitman would strike form when the crunch moment arrives.
Recalling that interaction, Rohit Sharma said that he had a chat with fellow Mumbai Indians player Yuvraj Singh about this during their IPL stint. According to Sharna, Yuvraj who was man of the series in 2011 World Cup was going through a patchy form just in run up to the tournament then. So Yuvi told him to just be in the right mindspace.
According to Sharma, he was not getting big runs in IPL despite hitting the ball well. But Yuvi's tips about being in the right mindspace was something followed and the results came in.
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2. Not here for the record: Rohit Sharma
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"I am not here for records, I am here to play cricket, I am here to score runs and lift the Cup. This is what I am here for. I am not looking at those things at all," Sharma said during the post-match press conference here on Saturday.
Sharma played a knock of 103 runs against Sri Lanka while chasing the target of 265 runs. After he smashed his third consecutive century, Sharma became the only batsman to score five centuries in a single edition of the premier tournament.
When asked whether he would rate hitting five centuries in the World Cup as his biggest feat, Sharma said: "Not yet, if you win the World Cup then I probably would, if not then I cannot. Because eventually winning the game is important, no matter how many runs you score. For us as cricketers, it is important to get the job done because we all have been looking for this World Cup which comes every four years, you have to wait four years for this. So, for us, the job is to win the final."
India registered a dominating seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka and ended their league matches with 15 points from nine matches, including a washed-out game. -ANI
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3. Family is there to create distraction from pressure: Rohit Sharma
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Rohit Sharma expressed mild displeasure about how the players are constantly facing pressure regarding performance in World Cup and about impending milestones and several other things. In his words, 'yapping all the time' is not right.
However, Sharma said that the team isn't too worried about personal milestones and those are rarely discussed. Rohit who is accompanied by his wife and baby daughter said that family is there to create distraction from non-stop cricket talks which lead to pressure.
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