Rohit hits back at favouritism charges on India

India captain Rohit Sharma did not shy away from taking tough questions head-on before their T20 World Cup semi-final against England in Guyana on Thursday. 

There has been a lot of talk about India having an advantage because of the World Cup’s scheduling. Former England cricketers Michael Vaughan and David Lloyd went to the extent of accusing the ICC of favouritism by making sure India was the only team to know their semi-final venue (Guyana) and date (June 27) even before the tournament started.

India was also the only top team to play all day-games throughout the tournament. This was done to make sure viewers in India could watch the entire action at a favourable time. All of India’s matches, including the knockout games, have a scheduled 8pm (IST) start.

Rohit, however, felt, India will have no advantage. “I don’t think it’s an advantage – I mean a lot of these players have played in different types of venues. I’m sure a lot of these English cricketers have played in this venue. So, I don’t see this as an advantage. At the end of the day, you’ve got to play good cricket to win a cricket game. That’s how I look at it,” Rohit said in the pre-match conference before the India vs England semi-final in Guyana.

It has been raining in Guyana for the last few days, and the forecast for Thursday isn’t that great, either. This has brought the focus on the different rules for the semi-finals. Unlike the first semi-final and the final, India’s match against England has no reserve day in place. If rain plays spoilsport and a match is not possible, then India, because of their higher standing in the Super Eight stage, will advance to the final.

However, the extra time allotted to complete both semi-finals is the same: 250 minutes. For the first semi-final, 60 minutes were supposed to be used on the scheduled day, and the remaining 190 minutes were kept for the reserve day. But for India’s semi-final, 250 minutes will be used on the scheduled day to complete the match.

‘ICC and the Cricket West Indies headache to get us to the next venue’: Rohit Sharma
When Rohit was asked about the same, the Indian captain expressed more concerns about missing their flight for the next game if rain delayed the semi-final.

“Look, the overhead conditions is in nobody’s control. We don’t know what’s going to happen. The only thing I’m worried is if the game goes on until pretty late, we have a charter flight. We might miss that flight, but that’s OK. It’s the ICC and the Cricket West Indies headache to get us to the next venue, but we’ll focus on how we can play this game well and get the results in our favour. That’s what we will be focusing on but yeah, at the end of the day two good cricket teams are going to play so it’s going to be a great game,” Rohit said.

The final will be played in Barbados on Saturday at 8 pm (IST). There is a reserve day in place for the final. The reason why ICC could not keep a reserve day for the second semi-final was to avoid same-day travel for the teams.