India captain Rohit Sharma has dismissed the claims that his team had an unfair advantage over the other teams, with a pre-determined venue for them if they qualified for the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024. According to Rohit, it is a level playing field as England players would also know the conditions in the West Indian as much as the Indian cricketers.
Notably, the playing conditions of the T20 World Cup 2024 had fixed India's semi-final in Providence, Guyana. This was done to ensure the match is played during the prime time as per the Indian Standard Time.
"I don't think it is an advantage. A lot of these players have played in different types of venues. I am sure a lot of English cricketers have played here. So I don't see it as an advantage, at the end of the day, you have to play good cricket to win. That is how I look at it," said Rohit in a press conference on the eve of the match.
India won their only T20 World Cup trophy in 2007 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni and are looking to end the trophy drought during this edition of the tournament.
Rohit was asked whether it add a lot of pressure to the current setup or they consider the semi-final just as important as any other game so far.
"It is a bit of both. We want to treat this game as another game, we don’t want to think about what lies ahead and the context of it. Everyone knows in the back of their mind it is a semi-final, and you don’t want to talk about it. The entire group is in a good frame of mind. Enjoying each other’s success and company, it is important to carry on the good work," the Indian skipper said.
We have been put under pressure in the tournament, but we have responded very well. We don’t want to think too far ahead, we will only concentrate on this game. If you think too much, you won’t be able to make the decisions," he added.
The Rohit Sharma-led side has played without too much fear in the competition, which is completely opposite to their 'slow and cautious' template back in 2022.
However, Indian skipper insisted that they have remained unchanged and just continued their aggressive brand of cricket, which was on display during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India.
"Honestly, not a lot has changed, whenever you approach a T20 game, you try to play with a free mind. Even in the ODI cricket, we have followed that template. Not a lot has changed as such, it depends on what the conditions have to offer. So, it depends on that and what challenges it brings," said Rohit.