Jaipur: India’s new T20 captain Rohit Sharma Tuesday said instilling a sense of security in players will be his priority and he will not stop hand-holding them even if they fail in a few games while trying to perform specific roles for the team.
Ahead of his first full-time assignment as India captain against New Zealand, Rohit outlined the need for him and coach Rahul Dravid to play a “big role” in allowing individuals to play fearless cricket and instil confidence even when they don’t get the desired results.
“I think it is an important aspect of the format (T20) where people have that assurance of going in and taking those chances in the middle. If it comes off, it comes off, if it doesn’t then what happens,” Rohit said when PTI asked how he would like to maintain a balance between security and flexibility while trying out combinations going into the next T20 World Cup in 11 months’ time.
“That’s where both of us will have to play a huge role and huge part in terms of giving that individual an assurance you know going out and expressing himself,” the skipper was categorical on how he and the new coach will go about their job.
Rohit’s eye will be on how players are reacting to a variety of pressure situations and how well they are able to express themselves while understanding the pitfalls of taking risks.
“Especially, in this format where sometimes, you need to go out there and play fearlessly while doing that there are chances that you might not always be successful. Because it’s such a short format, you are always challenged and the pressure is always there.”
For Rohit, it is important that the individual knows what the team requires of him and doesn’t deviate from the set game-plan.
“I think the entire set-up will play a big part in making sure that particular individual wherever he bats and how we want him to bat goes and does the job for us.”
So what happens when a player fails?
“If he doesn’t, you still try and instil the confidence in him that we have full faith in you and just go and do the role for the team. As long as they are trying to do the role for the team we are happy,” the skipper played with a straight bat.
PTI