'Practice Match Just A Formality For Team India': Rohit Sharma Gives Hardik Pandya-Like Bizarre Statement During IND vs ENG Toss

Not very long ago, Hardik Pandya had faced severe trolling and criticism for his infamous ‘okay to be unique’ comment and India captain Rohit Sharma can also face a similar situation.

When Hardik Pandya was asked by the presenter what it would imply if he failed to continue India’s winning streak against West Indies in the bilateral ODI series, the stand-in captain had bizarrely said: “It’s okay. I like to be unique.”

And Rohit Sharma, on Saturday (September 30), came up with a similar comment during the toss for the World Cup warm-up game against England. While teams are using the warm-up games to fine-tune their preparations for the mega event, Rohit Sharma surprisingly called it a formality.

“We gonna bat first. No particular reason, it’s very hot out there. Just want to make sure that our bowlers stay fresh and bowl under the lights which is not gonna be so taxing for the bowlers. Because we have been playing lot of cricket off late, so just want to make sure that we are looking after them,” said Rohit Sharma.

“Practice match is just a formality for us. We just got to play good cricket, we played 7 or 8 games recently, we want to make sure that the guys stay fresh for the 8th of October. We are playing one of the top teams and everyone (in the team) is fit and ready to go,” he added.

Rohit Sharma led India to bat first:

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma decided to bat first in the warm-up game after winning the toss. The match is taking place in Guwahati where Bangladesh and Sri Lanka played the first warm-up game at the venue on Friday. India are high on confidence after winning the Asia Cup and the series against Australia and would be looking to continue their fine form.

India (Batting XI, Fielding XI):

Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami

England (Batting XI, Fielding XI):

Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Gus Atkinson, Reece Topley, Mark Wood