'Play With Our...' - Rohit Sharma On ICC Trophy Drought

image-lm62a0jaRohit Sharma in Sri Lanka for Asia Cup 2023 (AP)

Indian captain Rohit Sharma and BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar have unveiled team’s 15-player squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. Core members Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami all retained their respective places in the line-up, while KL Rahul earned a surprise entry into the squad after his return from injury-struck absence.

At the press conference, captain Sharma answered a number of questions from the reporters, mostly involving around possible team combinations and notable omissions. He also responded how the team is planning to tackle the World Cup pressure in front of home crowd, keeping in mind their 10-year title drought at ICC events.

Rohit Sharma implies team not bothered with past failures

The last time an Indian team won an ICC trophy was under MS Dhoni’s guidance at the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. Since then, the ‘Men in Blue’ have been faltering in all ICC knockouts, with their latest set of failures being this year’s WTC drubbing and last year’s T20 World Cup debacle in Australia.

When Rohit Sharma was asked if the current team will be feeling any pressure of not winning an ICC title since 2013, the dashing opener said that his troops are simply looking to go and play as per their abilities at the 2023 World Cup. He stated:

“No pressure, just go & play with our ability.”

The Indian team, currently in Sri Lanka for the 2023 Asia Cup, will commence their World Cup 2023 campaign with a match against Australia on October 8 in Chennai’s M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Here is a look at India’s entire 15-player World Cup 2023 squad:

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah.