'Quite threatening': Rohit Sharma says he would neither face Shaheen nor Starc in World Cup

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma recently revealed that he would neither like to face Pakistan's pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi or Australia's Mitchell Starc in the upcoming ICC World Cup, saying they both are "quite threatening".

This year's World Cup is set to take place in India from October to November and Sharma, 36, will lead his team in the third ICC tournament. 

He previously led the Blues in ICC T20 World Cup 2022, where they lost to England in the semis, and the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in 2023.

Speaking to ICC, the 36-year-old was asked some interesting questions which he answered in his own style.

The hitman was asked if he would like to face Australia’s Starc or Pakistan’s Shaheen, to which he replied: “None, both are quality, quite threatening with the new ball, can swing the ball, quite fast. So I would say none."

Sharma prefers to face pacers over spinners and pull shots over cover drive.

The 36-year-old also opened up on the disappointment of not being in the World Cup 2011 squad which India won on their soil.

“2011 was a memorable one for all of us, I remember watching it from home, every single match, every single ball which was being bowled and that was being played. There were two kinds of emotions, one was obviously I was not a part of it, so I was a little disappointed," Rohit told ICC.

“I decided I was not going to watch the World Cup, but again, the second memory I remember was that India was playing so well, quarter-finals onwards. You know, the big quarter-final was against Pakistan.

"I know how the pressure is on all these players when playing these games. I can only imagine the pressure what each player must have gone through at that time, and then the semi-finals against Australia," he added.

India are on a 10-year ICC trophy drought as their last trophy came in 2013 with Mahendra Singh Dhoni leading the team to the ICC Champions Trophy triumph.