Following India's ODI series defeat to Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma dismissed claims that his side had been complacent during the tour.
India entered the series as strong favourites to win, despite playing away from home and not being at full strength. They ended up drawing the first match, before losing the second and being thoroughly outplayed in the final fixture.
It was the first time in 27 years that an Indian men's team had lost a bilateral ODI series to Sri Lanka, marking an inauspicious start to Gautam Gambhir's tenure as the team's head coach.
After the conclusion of the final match, Rohit Sharma was asked during the presentation ceremony whether India had been slightly complacent in their approach. After all, they had won the T20 World Cup just over a month ago and had faced a fragile Sri Lankan side in the T20I series.
Rohit did not seem to take the question kindly, and sought to dismiss such thoughts instantly. "No, it's a joke. When you're playing for India, there's no complacency. We have to give credit where credit is due, Sri Lanka played better than us," he said. "We looked at the conditions, wanted to take pace off the ball, and that's why we went with our combination.
"All in all we didn't play good cricket through the series, and that is why we stand here. Throughout there were a few positives too. How the spinners bowled, some of the batters in the middle as well. We lost the series, and I feel there are a lot of areas we need to look at rather than the positives."
The Men in Blue will be in action in Test cricket next, when they take on Bangladesh in a 2-match home series in Chennai and Kanpur.
- Rohit Sharma
