The big question in Indian cricket is whether Rohit Sharma will continue to play Test cricket. India are set to tour England for a 5-Test series in June and Rohit’s recent record in Test cricket has been poor. He struggled on the tour of Australia, averaging just 6.20 in 5 innings and also dropped himself for a Test. In the Test series prior to that, against New Zealand at home late last year, he averaged just 15.16 in three Tests.
But it’s clear that Rohit intends to play the Test series in England. He had already indicated as much in a chat with Michael Clarke a couple of weeks ago where he talked about his hope that both and would be injury-free and be fresh for the England series.
In a latest chat, he spoke about the England series and also about his Test batting career in general.
“I haven’t thought much about the England tour yet. is going on now. We want to win the IPL. My thoughts are all about this. I have said before also, focus on what’s going on now. I believe in that,” Rohit said in a chat on journalist Vimal Kumar’s YouTube channel.
Rohit averages 40.57 from 67 Tests. That drops to 31.01 in Tests outside India. He averages 24.38 in Tests in Australia and 16.63 in Tests in South Africa but the average jumps to 44.66 in Tests in England, where India play next. As an opener, he averages nearly the same (44.54) in Tests in England.
When he was asked whether he is satisfied with his overall performances in Test cricket – the obvious reference being that he has performed much better in white-ball cricket, Rohit turned philosophical.
“As long as you play a sport, you will never be happy with the performances! I am happy with what god has given me rather than think about why I didn’t do this, that. It’s all written in the destiny – you will get this amount. Whatever I do, I am going to get only this. I don’t want to be hyper self critical with Test cricket; I am happy with what I have done,” Rohit said.
“You don’t have to live to keep other people’s expectations; it’s about what you want. What the world thinks expects doesn’t matter as they are not part of my journey. No one knows how I have dealt with training, handled ups and downs in my life, no one apart from your close ins don’t know about.I don’t keep unreal expectations, it’s simple and it’s my expectations.”
In the last two years, he has led India to the ODI world cup final in 2023, and won the Champions Trophy and T20 world cup. But on the downside, he was the captain when New Zealand achieved a historic whitewash, winning all three Tests in India, and also led the team in Australia where they lost 1-3.
Asked if the captaincy pressures and recent criticism has affected his personality, Rohit said: “ I have understood the system: when you do well, the reaction is too much and same when you don’t do well. Too much on both times. What can I do about this? Just go with it. If you don’t do well., get ready for criticism. I am not saying one shouldn’t criticise but you have to be mindful of criticism. Just that it shouldn’t be personal and should not have any agenda. One who is sensible knows how to criticise.”
