‘Have always focused on short term goals’ - Rohit Sharma on his roadmap after resumption of cricket

Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain of India’s T20I and ODI teams, isn’t a strong believer of setting long-term goals. Rather, the 33-year-old is someone, who prefers to make short-term plans and subsequently, move towards his bigger plans. At the present point in time, Rohit doesn’t have any cricket to play due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has rocked the world of late.

He is busy, spending his time at home with wife Ritika Sajdeh and daughter Samaira. In his posts on social media, Rohit has also expressed how much he misses going outside. As per the Nagpur-born veteran, long-term goals add to pressure and anxiety.

“In the upcoming years, I hope we get the opportunity to play cricket, as we don’t know when we will play again. Over the years, I’ve realised that long term goals won’t help you in anyway, on the contrary it will add to your pressure and stress.

I have always focused on short term goals which are mainly the next few games in the upcoming 2-3 months – who is it against, what can I do best,” Rohit was quoted as saying on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

I will continue to follow this method: Rohit Sharma

Rohit was set to captain the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, with chances of the tournament even getting cancelled, Rohit may have to wait longer to defend his title. He is currently the most successful IPL captain with four championships.

This year, apart from the IPL, the Indian players are also set to play in the T20 World Cup and a bilateral series against Australia. But in the current scenario, there’s very little clarity on how the events will take place, especially with the COVID-19 wreaking havoc.

Rohit, who got five centuries in the 2019 World Cup, feels that a lot of analysis is needed and he will continue to focus on making short-term goals.

“When we resume playing cricket, we will have to see what’s coming our way – whether it’s T20 World Cup or IPL. We even had a big bilateral series against Australia planned – we will have to analyse and see who we are playing against. Setting goals for each series or tournament helps me a lot and I will continue to follow this method in the future,” he added.