Rohit won’t mind early start in WC

HYDERABAD: Rohit Sharma on Tuesday backed Ravichandran Ashwin’s idea of an early start in the ODI World Cup to negate the dew factor as the Indian captain does not want any team to gain undue advantage in a major event.

It becomes difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball when dew covers the field in the evening, making batting easier for the chasing team.

Ashwin had proposed an 11.30 am start for the World Cup games to be played in India in October-November. Usually in India, the game starts at 1:30pm.

“It is a good idea. It is a World Cup right. You don’t want to compromise too much on the toss factor. You want to completely take that away. I like the idea of an early start but don’t know if it is possible. The broadcasters will decide,” said Rohit ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand here on Wednesday.

“Ideally you don’t want to see teams getting advantage of dew. You want to see cricket being played without one having an advantage of batting under lights with dew around.”

Rohit added that New Zealand will pose a big challenge for his team.

“It is a great opportunity and great opposition. We can challenge ourselves to achieve what we can as a team. They are coming from a good series in Pakistan.

“At the same time it is important not to look too much into the opposition,” added Rohit.