Ravi Shastri’s comments about overconfidence is “rubbish” says Rohit Sharma

Ravi Shastri’s postmortem on the Indian team’s brutal loss in Indore was crisp and scathing: “they were overconfident”. Now, Rohit Sharma’s response to Shastri too was crisp and scathing: “That’s rubbish … Ravi himself has been in this dressing room, and he knows what sort of mindset we have when we play as well. It’s about being ruthless, not being overconfident.”
He would say, like he and some of his team-mates have said before, they were a “surprised” at how much it turned on the first session of the first day at Indore. Rohit talked about how the captain who lost the toss has won all three games. “It’s probably the first time that has happenned in India. It’s been tough decision.”
The Indians were a bit frazzled on the first morning, seemingly surprised the amount of the turn on a mixed-clay pitch where selective watering had wreaked havoc. The black soil, with a bit of grass cover, had the ball skidding and turning a lot. The red part had a bit of bounce, along with turn. The interpretation from Rohit’s comments and Rahul Dravid’s could be that the muddled batting was more a reaction about the pitch rather than any “complacency” or “overconfidence”.
“Honestly, when you win two games, if the people outside are feeling that we are overconfident, it’s absolutely rubbish, because you want to do your best in all four games. You don’t want to stop winning just two games, it is as simple as that. Obviously, all these guys, when they talk about being overconfident and all that, especially the guys who are not part of the dressing room, they don’t know what kind of talk happens in the dressing room.
“Ruthless is the word that comes to my mind, and it comes to every cricketer’s mind, being ruthless. Not to give any inch to the opposition when they are playing, especially when they’re touring abroad, and that is exactly we have also experienced when we have toured outside. The opposition will never let you come into the game, never let you come into the series. And that is the mindset we have as well. We want to do best in all the games. If it seems overconfident or anything like that to the outsiders, it doesn’t really matter to us, because Ravi himself has been in this dressing room, and he knows what sort of mindset we have when we play as well. It’s about being ruthless, not being overconfident.”