India vs New Zealand, Cricket World Cup 2023 Semifinal: "We Weren't Even Born..." - On World Cup Semis Pressure, Rohit Sharma's '1983' Statement

The Indian cricket team will take on New Zealand in a much-anticipated Cricket World Cup 2023 semifinal encounter in Mumbai on Wednesday. When the two teams last met in the knockout stages of Cricket World Cup, New Zealand emerged victorious and both experts and fans have expressed their concern regarding the pressure that the Rohit Sharma-led side will be under in front of a home crowd. However, ahead of the match, Rohit made it clear that the focus of the side is completely on winning and even came up with a 1983 World Cup reference to point out that past records will not play a major role.

"That's the beauty of this team. We weren't even born when we won the World Cup in 1983. Half of them were not playing when we won in 2011. I don't see them talking about how we won our previous World Cups. The focus is on how we can get better and how we can improve. That's the beauty of the current crop of players. From game number one, the focus is on to win today," he said at the press conference.

During the final group stage match against Netherlands, Rohit used batters Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill and even himself as bowling options. In the absence of the talented all-rounder Hardik Pandya, India went into the match with only five specialist bowlers but Rohit believes that they have adapted the team combination according to the situation and they are ready for anything.

"As soon as Hardik got injured, our combination changed. Ever since game number one, we wanted to use others to bowl as well. It's good to have options but I hope we will not have the situation to use it."