New Delhi [India]: India white-ball skipper Rohit Sharma feels that one should not pay attention to the outside talks as they are ‘immaterial’ and focus on the game. Rohit was on Wednesday named India’s new ODI skipper and the star player will take over from Virat Kohli starting with the South Africa series in January next year. “When you are playing cricket for India it is always going to be high pressure. The pressure is always going to be there. There will be a lot of people talking about it, positives and negatives. For me, personally, as a cricketer, not as a captain, it is important to focus on my job and not to focus on what people are talking about because you can’t control that. I have said it a million times and I will keep saying that,” said Rohit in a video posted by BCCI on Twitter. “This is also the same message to the team and the team understand that when we are playing a high-profile tournament, there will be a lot of talks. It’s just important for us to focus on what we have in hand; which is to go and win games and play the way you are known to play. So, those talks outside are immaterial,” he added. Rohit further said that India’s new head coach Rahul Dravid is helping the team in building a strong bond among each other. “For us, it is important what we think of each other. What I think of XYZ, that is important. You want to create a strong bond between players and that is what will help us achieve the goal we want to and Rahul Bhai is helping us with that,” said Rohit. Rohit was also named as India’s Test vice-captain as the All-India Senior Selection Committee picked an 18-member squad for the upcoming three-match Test series against South Africa. The Test series, which gets underway from December 26, will form a part of the new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
