Want to create strong bond between players: India ODI skipper Rohit Sharma

India’s new ODI captain Rohit Sharma said that he wants to create a strong bond between players and coach Rahul Dravid will act as an enabler in establishing that in the team’s pursuit of excellence. The flamboyant opener will lead the side as a full-time limited-overs skipper for the first time when the Men in Blue tour South Africa later this month. 

The BCCI sacked Virat Kohli as the ODI captain and named Rohit Sharma as his replacement. 

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Sharma believes that the team should shut itself from outside noise as what would matter in long run is what the players think of each other.

“We want to create a strong bond between players and that will help us in achieving the goal we want and yeah, Rahul bhai obviously, is going to help us in doing that. So we look forward to that,” Rohit told bcci.tv in an interview.

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Sharma said that he wants to focus on leading the team and not what others are talking about. 

“When you play for India, there will be pressure. Lot of people will talk a lot of things, positive, negative, for me personally, as a cricketer, it’s important for me to focus on my job and not what others are talking about. You can’t control that,” he said.

“I have kept on saying this and I will say this a million times, the message is to team as well, team understands that when we play a high profile tourney, there will be lot of talks but what is important for us is to focus what we have in hand.”

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“That is to win games and play the way you are known to play. I think those talk that happen outside are immaterial, what is important is what we think of each other, what I think of y or z, that is a important,” he added.