Rohit Sharma — ‘Cricket is not played thinking about what happened last time... when the toss happens, the (new) game starts’

It does not do to dwell on the past and forget to live, a famous wizard once said. On the cricket field, like in quidditch, the golden snitch has to be chased down every game, no matter how much past losses hurt.Rohit Sharma hurt like hell when Australia inflicted a home defeat in the ODI World Cup final on India at Anmedabad. But he would return to win the T20 World Cup, on the way evicting Australia.Speaking on JioHotstar show “Champions Waali Feeling Phir Se,” India’s T20 World Cup winning skipper Rohit Sharma, recalled how he approached the Australia game in the Caribbean a year later, which now is a year ago.

- GNS News Agency, july 4

“We knew that if we won this match, Australia would be out. That was a decent motivation for all of us. But cricket is not played thinking about what happened last time. Yes, you want to do well against them. But it is never going to be about the past,” Sharma said.

Further explaining he said, “That thing is in the back of the mind — they ruined our 19th November. Not just ours, but the whole country's. So, we should give them a good gift as well. Yes, in the dressing room all this keeps happening among us — between the boys. But when the toss happens, the game starts — then it is all about how you can do your best. When | am batting, | don’t think — let's knock them out. It doesn’t work like that. | have to focus on how I can play well against them. That was the only thought in my mind — how can | bat well and contribute.”