As India and Australia ready up to clash on June 9 in the World Cup, Men in Blue's vice-captain Rohit Sharma said that his innings against South Africa was probably one of his best in his career.
His remarks come after Indian skipper Virat Kohli's remarks on the batsman's century. Kohli lauded Sharma for his knock and said it was Sharma's best innings in his opinion.
"I think it was a massive booster for me. All the cricketers want to start well in the World Cup. I felt it was not the way I would have liked to play. You have to respect the conditions, it was my one of the best innings that I have played," Sharma told reporters at the pre-match conference.
Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni's decision to sport the army insignia on his wicket-keeping gloves in the match against South Africa caused a huge stir worldwide. However, when Sharma was asked about his opinion, he replied that he is not the skipper of the team so he is not aware of Dhoni's gloves.
"I am not the captain, I have no idea about Dhoni's glove. Probably you can see it tomorrow," Sharma said.
The 32-year-old said that it is pivotal to have a good day at the office and the team should not pay much attention to what has done in the past, referring to Australia's recent series win against India.
"I think in the World Cup, you just have to turn upon that day and play good cricket. What you have done in the past stays in the past. So I think we as a team totally believe that we have to be better on that particular day," Sharma said.
"Yes, we have had a good rivalry between the two teams in the last few months. There has been good competition between bat and ball. We played really good cricket in Australia and they played really good cricket in India so it's going to be a great contest," Sharma said.
The Men in Blue were recently defeated by Australia 3-2 in India earlier this year. However, Sharma said that what has happened in the past does not matter in a stage like the World Cup. He opined that it will all come down to how the team performs tomorrow.
"We have had success against each other. But again tomorrow's game will depend upon on how we play on that particular day. What you have done in the past is past. In World cup, you play different oppositions at different times, so you have to be ready to for that challenge," Sharma said.
Australia was peppered with short-balls in the match against West Indies. Sharma said that the Indian team would also bowl short balls, but they would aim to dismiss the batsmen by bowling good length balls as well.
"Short balls for anyone is not easy. Someone who can hook the ball also finds the short-ball difficult. We don't want to get carried away with the short ball, yes there will be short stuff bowled at the batsmen, most of the batters get out playing the good length ball, so it's important we bowl that length as well," Sharma said.
India takes on Australia at the Oval on June 9.
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