Nobody is guaranteed a place in World Cup team: Rohit Sharma

He should be the least concerned about losing a place in India’s World Cup XI in England a few months later but for Rohit Sharma, nothing comes easy and should not be taken for granted. The 31-year-old is one of India’s frontline batsmen when it comes to limited-overs cricket and will be one of the former champions’ major pillars in the quadrennial event. However, the batsman believes that nobody should take his side in the team for granted even if the composition is more or less settled.

Rohit missed the final of the four Test matches against Australia as he flew back home to see his newborn daughter and returned to Australia to join the ODI squad for the three-match series. Rohit scored 106 runs in two Test matches with one unbeaten half-century in Melbourne on his return to the longer format after almost a year. The dashing batsman, who has more international hundreds in T20Is than Tests, will now be into his favourite domain of ODIs.

According to the Mumbai batsman who has over 7,000 runs in the 50-overs format with 21 hundreds and scores at an average of 47 plus, there could be one or two changes in the India squad that will take on Australia in the three ODIs and New Zealand next in a five-ODI series, depending on poor form and injury.

Form and injury will be key, says Rohit

“The squad that plays these 13 ODIs is more or less the same squad that will go to the World Cup. There will be one or two changes, keeping in mind the form and injury concerns over the next few months,” Rohit said while talking to the press ahead of India’s first ODI against Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

India will also play Australia in five ODIs and Zimbabwe in three ODIs at home apart from the away matches before heading for England.

“We played a lot of cricket throughout the year, so injuries are bound to happen. And there will be some concerns about form and fitness. I don’t see there will be any drastic changes to the squad,” Rohit further added.

Talking over the slots in the playing XI, the opener said the occupants are more or less finalised but it will go down to the form of each player eventually.

“I would not say every individual that is going to be part of the next few series would be playing the World Cup. You have got to perform. But there won’t be drastic changes,” said the batsman who holds the record of the highest individual score in ODIs (264).

The World Cup 2019 will be Rohit’s second after the 2015 edition in which he scored 330 runs in eight innings at an average of 47.14 with one hundred against Bangladesh in the quarter-finals.

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