Cricket

ICC T20 WC 2024: Rohit Sharma wants this from his side

Published

3 months ago

May 31, 2024

Ray Sportz News Desk: Rohit Sharma led Indian Cricket Team will face Ireland in their 2024 ICC T20 World Cup opener at the newly built Nassau County International Stadium on June 5. As it’s a new pitch, India skipper Rohit Sharma feels that his side needs to cope up with the pitch and the conditions quickly, so that they can start on a good note at the start of the tournament.

However, Rohit and company will get a chance to check the nature of the pitch and overall conditions when they face Bangladesh in a warm-up match here on Saturday. It’s also India’s lone training game ahead of the ICC marquee event.

The warm-up match is important from India’s perspective because their matches will start at 10.30 AM local time and the players need to get used to day-time matches after playing under lights in the IPL for the last two months.

“We’re looking to understand the conditions more importantly (before the tournament proper) as we haven’t been here before,” Rohit told ICC.

The Mumbaikar emphasised the need for his side to get into a “rhythm” before the real action starts, and he wanted to use this side game as a springboard.

“(We will) try and make the most of the conditions, get used to what it’s going to be like on June 5 when we play our first game,” he added.

The challenge for the Indians will be to adapt to the drop-in turf here, something they don’t come across very often in international cricket.

“It’s just about getting into that rhythm of getting the feel of the ground, pitch and stuff like that,” he said.

Rohit was part of the first batch of India cricketers to arrive here on May 26, along with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.

Moving beyond the match routines, Rohit also found time to take in the beauty of the venue.

“It looks beautiful. It’s quite an open ground. When we come here and play our first game, I just can’t wait to feel the atmosphere in the stadium,” he said.

“It’s a decent capacity as well. Hopefully it’s gonna be a good one.”

Rohit hoped that fans will throng the venue for their matches.

“People in New York will be very interested in coming and watching the World Cup, as it is happening for the first time here.

“I’m pretty sure all the fans across various teams are quite excited and looking forward to this tournament. And also as players (we) can’t wait to get started,” he noted.

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Cricket

Chris Gayle backs Virat ahead of the final

Published

2 months ago

June 29, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ray Sportz Web Desk: India and South Africa will face the T20 World Cup final on Saturday. Former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle expressed his views on the two opponents in the press conference before the T20 World Cup final. Both teams entered the finals unbeaten. South Africa is looking for their maiden ICC trophy. On the other hand India is aiming to end their long ICC trophy drought.

According to Gayle, both the teams are very strong and equally deserve to win. He feels the World Cup final is going to be a high-scoring match. The batting and bowling of both the teams is very strong. So Chris Gayle thinks that the fight will not be easy for both team.

Virat Kohli is going through a bad-patch in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Chris Gayle, backing India’s star batsman, said, “Virat is a very big cricketer. We have seen Virat has played brilliantly in previous World Cups. He is going through a bad time now. It can happen to anyone.” The former Caribbean feels that a big cricketer like Virat will want to prove himself in the final.

Cricket

India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe:

Published

3 months ago

June 24, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ꮪhubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

Cricket

Rohit takes a dig at NY pitch

Published

3 months ago

June 9, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ray Sportz News Desk: The pitch controversy of the Nassau County has taken a new turn on Saturday, when India skipper Rohit Sharma said that he has no idea what to except from it in the upcoming T20 World Cup clash against arch rivals Pakistan. He feels that the curator is “confused” about the drop-in wickets being used here.

“New York is not our home ground. We have played two matches here but we don’t have much awareness about its nature. It behaves differently on different days, so even the curator is confused,” Rohit said on the eve of the game against Pakistan.

“So, you can imagine the kind of thinking we need to put in. We don’t know on which pitch we are playing (against Pakistan), so, whoever plays better cricket will win the match,” he added.

The slowness of the outfield, Rohit said, has compounded the worries.

“The outfield is slow. Some shots get lot of bounce on the field, and some others do not roll on the field. So running between the wickets is important. We need to play as per conditions,” he explained.

However, the skipper said such external factors can be neutralised by playing good cricket and his teammates often thrive in tough situations. The Indians will also be the more confident unit as Pakistan are coming off stunning loss to tournament debutants USA in their lung-opener.

“Playing good cricket holds the key, not opposition, not pitch. Yes, it’s tough but that’s why I would like to highlight the experience we have. The blows count for nothing,” said Rohit, referring to the hits he and Rishabh Pant took in their tournament-opener against Ireland due to the uneven bounce.