Bridgetown [Barbados]: Ahead of the start of the Super 8s stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma said that the Men in Blue will look to focus on their skills and what can they do as a team.
India will be taking on Afghanistan in their first Super Eight clash on June 20 at Bridgetown. India ended unbeaten run in the group stage with wins over Ireland, Pakistan and the USA in low-scoring games, with their last game against Canada on June 15 having been washed out due to rain. Afghanistan are also undefeated yet, with big wins against Uganda, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. They will be taking on West Indies in their final group-stage game on Tuesday.
The right-hand batter asserted that there is real keen-ness in the group to go and do something special.
“There is real keen-ness in the group to go and do something special. It clearly shows that everyone wants to make a difference and we take our skill sessions quite seriously. There is something to achieve in every skill session that you do. Once we play the first game, we are going to play the next two in 3-4 days. It is going to be a little hectic but we are used to all of this. We travel and play a lot so that is not going to be an excuse,” Rohit said in a video posted by BCCI.
The 37-year-old further stated that everyone in the team is excited and are looking forward to the Super 8s and knockout stages of the ongoing marquee event.
“We will look to focus on our skill and what we need to do as a team. We have played a lot of games here. Everyone understands what they need to do. Everyone is looking forward and are excited at the same time,” the right-hand opener added.
India will be aiming to do well against Afghanistan (June 20), Bangladesh (June 22) and Australia (24) and register big wins in order to qualify for the semifinals and end India’s drought for an ICC trophy since 2013’s Champions Trophy and also win their first T20 WC since 2007’s inaugural edition in South Africa.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj.