ICC World Cup 2019 | We will assess weather conditions, says Rohit Sharma
BCCI
Rohit Sharma has stated that the Indian side will be assessing the weather conditions in England during the World Cup this time. The pitches are expected to play flat resulting in a run-fest for the batsmen, however, the overcast weather may come as the only respite for bowlers.
The final two editions of the Champions Trophy which were played in England, in 2013 and 2017, witnessed high scoring encounters throughout. India performed exceptionally well to end up as the finalist in the previous edition and emerge as the champions in the one before that. Shikhar Dhawan emerged as the highest run-getter in both the editions whereas Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were not very far away.
Even in the recent five-match series between Pakistan and the hosts, every match witnessed scores in excess of 300, three out of them in excess of 350. Matches were marred with rain in all of these tournaments and series and the same is expected in the quadrennial event too. Rohit revealed that the Indian side will be keeping an eye on the weather.
“Weather is something we have been looking forward to. If it's anything like the last summer that England saw, it's going to be a treat for batsmen. In 2013, it was mostly overcast. Some matches got washed away. In fact, if you look at the series between England and Pakistan, it was hot out there. Last year, when we were there, it was quite hot. One good thing we have done as a team is pick players in terms of what conditions we're likely to face in England. The wrist spinners can come in handy. There's pace at our disposal. Batsmen who've got the necessary experience. I think we have the guys to do the job,” he said, reported Cricbuzz.
The Indian bowling attack has three frontline pacers in Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami. They will be well supported by the pace bowling all-rounders in Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar. The Virat Kohli-led side is no slouch in the spin department with the presence of leg-spinners Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and part-time spinner Kedar Jadhav. It is a balanced attack, as pointed out by the vice-captain.Â
“Virat has plenty of options to choose from. He's got full-time off-spinners, parttime off-spinners, he has medium-pace options, three quicks, left-arm options. The attack that we have is probably the best we could've picked,” remarked the 32-year-old.
The top three of the Indian batting lineup has collectively scored more runs than any other top three in the last two years. India are heavily reliant on them as well as MS Dhoni in the middle order. Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik or even KL Rahul are fabulous players but still do not inspire the same confidence that the former skipper does. However, Rohit maintained that the side possesses game changers in the middle overs as well.
“I think we have that component (game changers apart from Kohli), should we need it. But let me put it this way - that onus lies on the top three. Between me, Shikhar and Virat, it is our job to get that going. Between the three of us, we want to keep doing this as consistently as we can. It's not like maine kal banaya, aaj tu bana (I scored yesterday, today you do it). The onus will be on us,” he signed off.
