Rohit Sharma calls Ravi Shastri's criticism 'absolutely rubbish'

Shastri accused the team of 'a little complacency, a little bit of overconfidence'

Rohit Sharma didn't take lightly to some of the criticism directed at the team by Ravi Shastri, following India's nine-wicket defeat in the third Test against Australia. The Indian skipper termed the comments "rubbish" and said that "outsiders" didn't know what went on in the dressing room.

"This is what a little complacency, a little bit of overconfidence can do where you take things for granted, you drop guard and this game will bring you down," Shastri had told Star Sports. "I think it was a combination of all these things when you actually cast your mind back to the first innings, see some of the shots played, see some of the over-eagerness to try and dominate in these conditions...," the former India head coach had added.

"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," Rohit said bluntly when sought his reaction to Shastri's statements.

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"You don’t want to stop by 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."

In the same breath, Rohit said Shastri should know the team's mindset better as he was part of India's change room as its head coach not too long ago.

"Ruthless is the word that comes to my mind, and it comes to every cricketer’s mind, being ruthless," he continued. "Not to give any inch to the opposition when they are playing, especially when they’re touring abroad, and that is exactly what 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."