T20 World Cup 2022: Careers are not defined by one knockout game – Rohit Sharma

India has lost their last six knockout or final matches as the major ICC trophy has eluded the Men in Blue. Indian captain Rohit Sharma reckons careers are not defined by one knockout game before they take on England in the second semi-final of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

At the same time, Rohit understands the importance of the knockout match but feels the players work hard throughout the year in all three forms of the game to reach the crucial stages of the tournaments like the T20 World Cup.

India has come in touching distance of lifting the silverware in the previously major events of the ICC but they have fallen short of the last hurdle.

Rohit lifted the T20 World Cup in 2007 when MS Dhoni had led the young team to glory and since then the Mumbai batter has been part of India’s every T20 World Cup campaign.

“I think knockout games are important. We do understand that. It’s a simple logic to it, knockout games, because you get to play only once and there’s only one opportunity to do well in that knockout game,” Rohit said in the press conference.

“But for us, I think, not just for me, but for the players, what they’ve done in their entire career doesn’t define them by just one knockout game. The entire year you work so hard to get where you want to and to do well in whichever format you play. So that one particular game is not going to decide that. I think it’s important we do understand the importance of knockout, but at the same time, it’s also important to realize and understand what sort of effort you put in the entire year to come to that stage.”

With emotions and heartbeats running high in a big match like the T20 World Cup semi-final, Rohit admitted that it is still going to be a cricket match and there will be mistakes from the players.

“We must find a way to accept the noise around the match, but again, come back to exactly your job on the day, and play what’s required from you. It’s still a game of cricket. There’s a lot of things you can’t control in the game. There will probably still be a misfield, someone will bowl a wide, and someone might drop a catch. All these things happen in the game, just because it’s a semifinal or not. But we must maintain trying to play with the same level of freedom in T20 cricket. Whether it’s one or two guys, whether it’s a full-team performance coming down to it on the day, we must have a huge belief that we can get the job done.”

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma isn’t in the best of forms in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Apart from scoring 53 runs against the Netherlands, Rohit hasn’t been able to contribute at the top of the order for his team.