India captain Rohit Sharma feels they will not have any “advantage” for knowing their T20 World Cup semi-final venue beforehand.
Before the tournament, India were the only side to know their semi-final venue if they qualified. There have been murmurs of India receiving preferential treatment from the ICC owing to the pre-decided fixture. Many feel the spin-friendly surface in Georgetown is better suited for India, which is also why they picked as many as four spinners – Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal - in the squad.
Rohit: I don't think it's an advantage
Speaking at a press conference on the eve of India's semi-final clash against England, Rohit Sharma ruled out any "advantage" for knowing their semi-final venue before the start of the T20 World Cup.
"I don't think it's an advantage - I mean a lot of these players have played in different types of venues. I'm sure a lot of these English cricketers have played in this venue. So, I don't see this as an advantage," Rohit said. "At the end of the day, you've got to play good cricket to win a cricket game. That's how I look at it."
While the first semifinal which South Africa won against Afghanistan had a reserve day for a washout, the India-England game in Guyana doesn't have one.
Rohit: Overhead conditions not in anybody's control
When asked about his opinion on that, Rohit added: "Obviously, look, the overhead conditions is in nobody's control. We don't know what's going to happen. The only thing I'm worried is if the game goes on until pretty late, we have a charter flight.
"We might miss that flight, but that's OK. It's the ICC and the Cricket West Indies headache to get us to the next venue, but we'll focus on how we can play this game well and get the results in our favour. That's what we will be focusing on but yeah, at the end of the day two good cricket teams are going to play so it's going to be a great game."
It’s worth noting that India will advance to the final if the match is called off due to rain, owing to their superior record during the Super Eights stage as compared to England.
The high-voltage clash on Thursday is a re-match of the 2022 semi-final, in which India went down by 10 wickets against defending champions England. A lot has changed since then, as Rohit has been at the helm of racking up scores at faster rates during the powerplays. India are yet to lose a game this year and will fancy their chance of ending their prolonged trophy drought in ICC competitions.
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