Rohit Sharma 'honoured' to be India's all-format captain
Rohit was recently appointed the skipper of the Indian Test team making him the captain of the side across all formats. Speaking on being given the opportunity, Rohit said that he was looking forward to the challenges of captaining India in both white-ball and red-ball cricket.
"It’s a huge honour and a great feeling to be captaining India in all three forms. I have a lot of challenges to look forward to now. Once the opportunity came through, I was glad and very happy to be captaining the team. We have got a solid bunch of guys and looking forward to leading them on the park and seeing what we can create on the field."
Rohit also addressed concerns about his own workload management, with the ICC Men's T20 World Cup coming up, adding, "I'm very clear in my mind on how I want to take this forward. Obviously, managing the workload, not just me, but for everyone will be the key moving forward.
"We've already seen a number of injuries within our squad. So we just have to be very careful with what we do with individuals and how we rotate them and how we give them the break time that they need. But as far as I'm concerned, at the moment, there are no issues. Looking forward to play all the games."
Ahead of the series against Sri Lanka, India were dealt a huge blow as Suryakumar Yadav was ruled out with a hairline fracture. Yadav was in devastating touch during the series against West Indies, scoring 107 runs at a strike-rate of 194.55. The Indian skipper claimed that his absence would be a 'setback' for the side.
"Surya’s injury obviously is a setback. He was in great form as you saw in the last series; he was the Man of the Series. But there are so many players who are waiting to get an opportunity. I’ll be more than happy for them to come in and fill in.
"At the same time, I’m a little bit sad for Surya. He was in great form and I’m sure, he wanted to carry it further. But you can’t really help with injuries. It was a freak injury; he was standing at the slips, got hit on his thumb. Those things you can’t control. I wish him a speedy recovery and wish he returns soon."
One potential replacement for Suryakumar in the side could be the returning Sanju Samson. Rohit, in his press conference, was effusive in his praise for Samson, hailing his talent.
"That guy has got talent. Whenever we have seen him bat, he has produced an innings where everyone goes over the moon watching that. He’s got the skillset to succeed. Now, that’s the whole point about this spot. A lot of people have the skillset, a lot of people have talent. I think it’s up to Sanju how he utilises his talent and how he can maximize it."
When asked whether Samson was into the plans for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, Rohit said, "Definitely, he’s into the consideration, which is why he is a part of the team. His backfoot play is superb. Some of his shots, you must have seen during the IPL, the pick-up pull, the cut shots, standing and delivering over bowler’s head – those types of shots are not easy to play. When you go to Australia, you need those kinds of shot-making abilities and Samson definitely has it in him."
India will begin their three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in Lucknow on 24 February, with the remaining two contests to be played in Dharamsala on 26 and 27 February.