Rohit Sharma: These talks are nonsense



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Rohit Sharma: These talks are nonsense

There is more and more talk about ODI cricket and that it has lost its charm. However, India skipper Rohit Sharma disagrees: "Mera naam hi one-day cricket se bana hai. Sab bekar ki baatein hai (I made my name from one-day cricket.

These talks are nonsense). People were earlier talking about Test cricket (being in danger)," Rohit told, as quoted by sports.ndtv.com "For me, cricket is important, be at any format. I'd never say that ODI is getting finished or T20 is getting finished or Tests are nearing an end.

"I wish there was another format as well, because for me, playing the game is most important. It's an individual choice as to which format to play or not, but for me, all three formats are important," he added. The Asia Cup in Dubai will be the next challenge for him and the team.

In the first match, they will play against Pakistan. This will not be an easy challenge for them. "We played Pakistan last year in Dubai, where obviously the result did not go our way. But the team is playing differently now and has prepared differently, so a lot of things have changed from then.

We need to assess the conditions, keep in mind the fact that we will be playing in 40-plus degrees (temperatures). We need to assess all those factors and prepare accordingly. Similarly, in the Asia Cup, our focus will be on what to achieve as a team and not think about who we are facing -- be it Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka.

As a team, we are working on a few things ahead of the Asia Cup. We have to keep the process going."

T20 World Cup

The T20 World Cup is also close. "There are still about two-and-a-half months left for the T20 World Cup. Before that, we have the Asia Cup and two home series against Australia and South Africa.

There could be three-four changes, if at all, depending on the conditions. As of now, we have been playing in India and will play in UAE, so the conditions in Australia will be different. We need to check what suits our team in Australia." The goal is for the team to be united and to create a positive atmosphere and harmony.

"(Jasprit) Bumrah, (Mohammed) Shami and all these guys will not be with the Indian team forever, so you have to try and prepare the other guys. Myself and Rahul bhai (Dravid) spoke about how we are going to create our bench strength because that's going to be very crucial considering the amount of cricket we play, considering the injury factors and everything.

We never want to be a team that relies on one or two individuals, we want to be a team where everyone can contribute and help the team win on their own."