Rohit calls Shastri's criticism 'absolutely rubbish': We’re ruthless, not over-confident

India skipper Rohit Sharma during a training session at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/PTI

There was a time when criticism by the media was taken in the right spirit. The intention of the critic was never in doubt. But with the entry of a plethora of former players in the media sphere, their harsh comments usually lead to ego clashes with the team management and captain in particular. When the media asks pointed questions during pre-match interactions about criticism by former players, the captains come out all guns blazing. Here too both India and Australia skippers, Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith, did not mince words while reacting to such questions.

‘Outside noise'

We have seen of late, whenever former cricketers come up with strong words, the Indian team management has brushed it aside as "outside noise." The phrase, coined by Rohit himself, has been frequently used whenever he has been asked about criticism by stalwarts like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri. But "rubbish" is a very strong word used by him at the pre-match press conference, reacting to Shastri's critical comments recently. "Complacency. Overconfidence. Drop in intensity. It was a combination of all these things that brought about India's downfall in the third Test," former India coach Shastri had said. There is little doubt that Shastri's criticism was well intended as he didn't feel happy to see the team that he was in-charge of till a year-and-a-half back, lose the Indore Test after holding sway over the Australian in the first two games.

On Wednesday, Rohit's caustic reply was: "Honestly when you win two games, if people outside are feeling we are overconfident, it's absolutely rubbish, because you want to do your best in all four games. You don't want to stop by winning just two games. Obviously, all these guys [former cricketers], when they talk about being overconfident and all that, especially the guys who are not part of the dressing room, don't know what kind of talk happens here. Ruthless is the word that comes to my mind, and it comes to every cricketer's mind. Not to give an inch to the opposition, especially when they're touring abroad, and that is exactly what we've experienced when we have toured outside. The opposition will never let you come back into the game or the series. And that's the mindset we have as well. We want to do our best in all the games. If it seems overconfident or anything like that to the outsiders, it doesn't really matter to us. "Ravi himself has been in this dressing room, and he knows what sort of mindset we have when we play as well. It's about being ruthless, not being overconfident," Rohit concluded.

Also Read: Ravi Shastri: Don't like vice-captain in home conditions

Smith disappointed

Similarly, Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith did not agree with Allan Border's criticism that his thumbs-up sign to India's bowlers was a show of weakness. Border had said that the Aussies are known to play hard-nosed cricket and that it's ridiculous to see a batter giving the thumbs-up. At the match-eve media interaction, Smith said the thumbs up was more a pat on his own back for dealing with a good delivery. "I was pretty disappointed to see some of the comments last Test match [around him not playing the Australian way]," Smith said.