Rohit Sharma shares his opinion on players failing in crunch matches

The big boys in the Indian team failing to make a mark in a knock-out game isn’t something new. Be it in the 2019 World Cup semi-final, the 2021 Test Championship Final or the match against New Zealand in the 20-20 World Cup in 2021, the Indian team always failed to live up to their expectations in the last few years.

Thus, when the Men in Blue takes the field against England in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022, the pressure will be on them to make a mark. Now, coming to their current form, Rohit Sharma is definitely someone who has failed to make a mark so far in the tournament. The Indian captain scored just 89 runs in five matches and has failed to give India the much-needed start to boost their confidence. KL Rahul too was pale earlier in the tournament but managed to score runs in the last two matches. On the other hand, neither Dinesh Karthik nor Rishabh Pant failed to live up to their expectations and thus, the entire pressure falls on Virat Kohi and Suryakumar Yadav to deliver.

The top order failure in crunch situations has now become a habit in the Indian team. However, Rohit Sharma is not ready to take just one match into consideration to judge any player's form.

“I think knockout games are important. We do understand that. It's a simple logic to it, knockout games, because you get to play only once and there's only one opportunity to do well in that knockout game.

But for us, I think, not just for me but for the players, what they've done in their entire career doesn't define them by just one knockout game. The entire year you work so hard to get where you want to and to do well in whichever format you play. So that one particular game is not going to decide that,” the captain said in the press conference.

It's important we do understand the importance of knockout: Rohit Sharma

Captain Rohit Sharma in the press conference also mentioned the importance of knock-out games but also understands the kind of effort all the players put into the match. Backing all his players, the 35-year-old reminded that the team didn’t forget the past failures and aims to do better this time.

“I think it's important to understand that knockout games are important, and you do well, it gives you that immense confidence. But we do not forget what has happened in the past, what the players have done in the past. All the performances that they've put in for the team over the year, that one game cannot be dictating that,” the captain added in the press conference.