Paul Collingwood talks about Rohit Sharma’s messaging, mentality during ICC T20 WC 2024

Providence [Guyana], June 27 (ANI): Ahead of the clash against India in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, former England skipper Paul Collingwood spoke about Men in Blue skipper Rohit Sharma’s messaging and mentality during the ongoing marquee event.

It will be a rematch of the semifinal from the 2022 edition of the tournament as a red-hot Team India will meet England in the second semifinal of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at Guyana on Thursday. The last time these two nations faced off in a Men’s T20 World Cup semi-final was just 19 months ago in Adelaide when a remarkable opening partnership between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales saw England cruise to 10 wicket win that forced a complete rethink in India’s T20 strategy and move away from more established superstars to younger blood, from conservatism to aggression.

This time around, though, India has more batting firepower led by experienced campaigners skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, more attacking options through the middle overs, and more variation in their attack, but the defending champions will take some beating, especially with skipper Jos Buttler and his new opening partner Phil Salt both in blistering form.

Speaking during the Star Sports Press Room, Collingwood spoke on the messaging and mentality that Rohit Sharma has inculcated in the team.

“Look I think the messaging is pretty clear from Rohit Sharma. Whether it’s the messaging in the changing room, whether it’s the messages in the changing room, or some of the messaging we have seen in his press conferences, where he says it’s not about personal milestones, it’s about strike rates or having an impact on the game, all these things are huge when it comes to players going out and having that belief that the captain and the coach is 100% behind you, and have an impact on the game. And I think it’s seen a massive change in the Indian cricket team,” Collingwood said.

“They’ve always been one of the best chasers in T20 cricket, Virat Kohli at the top of the order, once he knows what rhythm, what style he’s got to play, then he’s one of the best chasers. I’ve seen a massive switch in the Indian cricket team, especially when they are setting targets now, they really want to be aggressive from ball one. In England, they have been doing this for six, or seven years, since Eoin Morgan took over in 2016. They’ve had this really go out and be aggressive from ball one approach. And it seems that they’ve set a benchmark for other teams to follow and India is no different. So when you’ve got the skill and the batters that the Indian cricket team have, it can be a very powerful and dangerous unit,” the former all-rounder added.

Squads:

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sanju Samson, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal

England: Philip Salt, Jos Buttler (wk/c), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley, Mark Wood, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley.