Indian men’s cricket team captain Rohit Sharma lashed out at a reporter during a press conference where Team India’s World Cup squad was announced for a question about the match between India and Pakistan. The Men in Blue will start their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 8 in the hope of recreating the team’s 2011 triumph. 

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As the squad was announced, a journalist asked Sharma about the pressure of playing against Pakistan in a World Cup setup in India. Reacting to the question, the Indian captain vehemently replied he and the team don’t care about what happens outside. The Hitman further asserted that he wouldn’t answer such questions. 

"I have said this so many times. We don't care what happens on the outside. All the players in our team are professional. Don't ask me such questions. I won't ask such questions. It doesn't make sense to talk about such things. Our focus is something else and we do not care about these things," Sharma said.

Further in the press conference, Rohit Sharma talked about building batting depth in the side on the back of the team’s bowlers through the World Cup. "We have to create the batting depth. Obviously, the nos 8 and 9 become crucial when it comes to batting depth. We fell a little short at the back end with the bat. Their job is not just to bowl the opposition out but also to score some runs. 10 or 15 runs could be the difference between winning and losing," Sharma said during the press conference.

"You got to see what the conditions are. Six bowlers cannot bowl 10 overs each, you have to see what suits which bowler that day. There will be times where spinners will not bowl their full quota of 20 overs," Sharma added.

India’s World Cup 2023 Squad:

Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (VC), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj