Rohit Sharma’ was lost’ in the debut of all 5 Indian youngsters vs England :’ I played with Sarfaraz Khan’s father when’
The Test series against England was one of Rohit Sharma’s sternest assignments as captain. Rohit was playing all five Tests – his very first in his career – and he had also been captaining a group with Virat Kohli and KL Rahul out. The middle-order was untested and fragile without Shreyas Iyer, leading the team management to put their money on a group of youngsters to make up for the absence of Kohli and Rahul. After losing the Hyderabad Test, India handed debuts to five promising talents – Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep and Devdutt Padikkal – all of whom put up commendable performances except one.
Younger teammates are presented with the trophy by Rohit Sharma. (PTI)
Rohit Sharma hands the trophy to his younger teammates. (PTI)
Looking back at all five debutants, Rohit admitted he had a blast leading this enthusiastic bunch of youngsters. The India captain said he had followed their progress on the domestic circuit but knew they needed to be handled very carefully. And as it turned out, Rohit handled the challenge at hand exceedingly well. Almost all 5 players had wonderful things to say about their captain, and it wouldn’t have been possible without Rohit as well as trainer Rahul Dravid’s unmatched support.
I truly enjoyed playing with them. They are all very naughty. I was acquainted with the majority of them and recognized their strengths and plans for playing the game. I just wanted to console them by reminiscing about their good qualities and past accomplishments. The way they responded to me and Rahul bhai (coach Rahul Dravid) was superb, ” Rohit said on his Instagram handle’Team Ro’.
The atmosphere surrounding the boys on their debut gripped Rohit. Sarfaraz and Naushad Khan cried in Rajkot as the 26-year-old fulfilled his dream. In Ranchi, it was Akash Deep’s turn to touch the feet of his mother on receiving his Test cap. In the final Test at Dharamsala Devdutt Padikkal took full advantage of the opportunity with a fifty. But arguably the one that touched Rohit the most was seeing Sarfaraz hugging his dad as the father-son pair got extremely emotional. Visuals of Naushad’ s chat with Rohit urging the India captain to’take care’ of his son went viral. And expectedly so, because Rohit and Naushad go back a long way too.
Rohit moved by emotions
“The debut of all these boys lost me. There were also their parents present and there were many emotions. I have played with Sarfaraz’s father in Kanga league when I was very young. His father was also a lefty batter. He was a ferocious cricketer and a well – known figure in Mumbai cricket circles. I wanted to congratulate him for his dedication and perseverance that paid off with his son representing India. Rohit stated that he wanted to convey to him that his Test cap belonged to him as much as to his son.
Barring the five debutants, Yashasvi Jaiswal was another youngster whose form went a long way in ensuring India wrapped up the series 4-1. Over 700 runs were recorded by the 22-year- old, including two double-centuries and three fiveties. In fact, that Jaiswal scored 209 out of India’s first innings total of 396 speaks volumes of the one-man army he transformed into in front of England.
Jaiswal scored 209, more than half the team score – the next closest was 30-40. We knew that in case we dropped that Test it would be difficult to win three consecutive matches. For us to win that Test was so important. Rohit said Jaiswal & Bumrah stepped up to bail out the team.