Labels 'overconfident' comment as 'rubbish'
AHMEDABAD: India captain Rohit Sharma has reacted sharply to the criticism following his team's nine-wicket loss to Australia in the third Test at Indore last week.
India were 2-0 up in the series and a poor first session on the Day 1 of the third Test at Indore saw them lose seven wickets before lunch. They were eventually dismissed for 109 and never recovered after that. Their performance invited a lot of criticism with former India player and coach Ravi Shastri pointing out that the hosts had paid the price for being "complacent" and "over-confide nt. " On the eve of the fourth Test, Rohit was asked if he agreed with Shastri's assessment. He didn't sound too pleased.
"If the people outside are feeling that we are overconfident, it's absolutely rubbish, because you want to do your best in all four games," said Rohit before adding, "you don't want to stop by winning just two games, it is as simple as that. Obviously, all these guys, when they talk about being overconfident and all that, especially the guys who are not part of the dressing room, they don't know what kind of talk happens in the dressing room.
"Ruthless is the word that comes to my mind, and it comes to every cricketer's mind, being ruthless. Not to give any inch to the opposition when they are playing, especially when they're touring abroad, and that is exactly we have also experienced when we have toured outside."
"The opposition will never let you come into the game, never let you co me into the series. And that is the mindset we have as well. We want to do best in all the games. If it seems overconfident or anything like that to the outsiders, it doesn't really matter to us, because Ravi himself has been in this dressing room, and he knows what sort of mindset we have when we play as well. It's about being ruthless, not about being overconfident."
