"It's absolutely rubbish" - Rohit Sharma on Ravi Shastri's comments about India being overconfident in Indore Test
India captain Rohit Sharma doesn't agree with former head coach Ravi Shastri's comments that the hosts were a bit complacent and overconfident against Australia in the third Test in Indore.
Despite electing to bat first, Rohit and Co. were bundled out for just 109 in over a session's time. Ravi Shastri was on air at the time and felt that India took Australia lightly after being 2-0 ahead in the series and also questioned their strokeplay.
He commented:
"This is what a little complacency, a little bit of overconfidence can do when you take things for granted, you drop guard and this game will bring you down. I think it was a combination of all these things when you actually cast your mind back to the first innings, see some of the shots played, see some of the overeagerness to try to dominate in these conditions."
However, while speaking to reporters ahead of the fourth Test, Rohit Sharma denied these claims and stated that India were keen to be 'ruthless' by preparing a turning track to make it difficult for the Aussies.
He said:
"Honestly, when you win two games, 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."
We don't want to give even an inch to the opposition: Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma further opined that the idea of dishing out turning tracks was to take advantage of home conditions and make it even more difficult for the visitors, who were already 0-2 down in the series.
On this, Rohit stated:
"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. It's about being ruthless, not being overconfident.
"Not to give any inch to the opposition when they are playing, especially when they're touring abroad, and that is exactly what we have also experienced when we have toured outside."
The Ahmedabad pitch looks good for batting, according to Australia's stand-in skipper Steve Smith. It will be interesting to see how it plays out on Thursday.