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Ind vs SL, 1st ODI: Here is what Rohit Sharma has to say ahead of the match

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 9 December 2017, 17:25 IST

After thrashing Sri Lanka in the three-match Test series, the high spirited Indian squad will face Islanders for the three-match One Day International series. However, there is a bad news for the Indian cricket fans ahead of the match. The 'run machine' of Indian cricket team will not be a part of the match. As the skipper has been released from the upcoming three-match ODI and T20I because of the personal reason.

In the absence of Virat Kohli, the explosive Indian opener Rohit Sharma will lead men-in-blue. Rohit had already shown his captaincy skills in the Indian Premier League. While talking about the franchise and international cricket Rohit said: "basics of captaincy remain same."

"It will be completely a different ball game all together but the process and basics of captaincy will remain the same."

"We have a different set of players than the IPL team but having played with these guys for some time now, I do understand their strengths and weaknesses. It will be all about going there and executing and making everyone comfortable," Rohit added.

"I don't need to change anything. I just need to carry from where we left as a team and yes IPL and international cricket is completely different --- the pressure and mindset of the players is absolutely different. I myself will not change much. I will try to be at the present and make those changes when necessary," Rohit further added.

"It was important to be ready for an opportunity because in the last few years, the combinations that we were playing with allowed the captain to go with five bowlers at times. So it was important to be ready and I wanted to prepare myself in a manner that I can get a game anytime. I am happy the way the Test went in Nagpur. I want to continue and don't want to put pressure on myself and enjoy the game."

"I believe every new series is different and it will bring different challenges and we got to do what we do as a team. We need to concentrate on basics and little things which eventually add up to bigger things. The idea will be the same. I have seen if we do that we get the result," he said.

"We will be put to different situations and it will be important how we react to those. In Sri Lanka, we were put under pressure in few situations and we came out of it really well, we showed a lot of character," he said.

"Here at times, we will be put under pressure and we have guys to stand up and respond to those situation. We are not thinking that we have beat them in the last series, we have to focus from first ball to the last," he added.

Indian and Sri Lanka Squads for the upcoming ODI series:

India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul.

Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (Captain), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella (wicketkeeper), Chaturanga de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dhananjaya de Silva, Dushmantha Chameera, Sachith Pathirana, Kusal Perera.

First published: 9 December 2017, 17:16 IST