Next two months very crucial, critical for India, says Rohit Sharma

Shubman Gill receiving the CEAT International Batter of the Year from Rohit Sharma in Mumbai on Monday. Pic/Satej Shinde

INDIA captain Rohit Sharma, 36, reckoned the next couple of months before the ICC ODI World Cup will be very crucial in terms of preparation for the 1983 and 2011 ODI World Cup-winning country. However, he assured that seniors in the squad will team up with young players to cope with the intense level of pressure.

"I do understand the responsibility that we all have, what's coming in the next two months is very crucial, very critical. For us as a team, it's important to try and stay in the moment, because playing in India is going to be a huge task.

"We do understand the pressure of the game. A lot of young guys will be playing the World Cup for the first time. It is pointless to keep thinking about it [pressure] again and again. It's our [senior players] responsibility to make sure that these guys won't feel that and we all senior guys in the squad lead the way and play the game," Rohit said during Ceat cricket awards in Mumbai on Monday.

India will start their campaign against Australia at Chennai on October 8.

Rohit also recalled the 2019 World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand. "I enjoyed playing the (ODI) World Cup in 2015 and in 2019 as well. We got to learn a lot.

Eventually it's all about winning the championship, that's what we played for. But I thought we did everything right. Unfortunately things didn't go our way. In 2019, I thought we were very close. We had the best time in the tournament, losing only one game, that semi-final. So I thought we did everything right. It's just that unfortunately we couldn't cross the line," he added.