IND v ENG 2024: “Not a lot is spoken,” Rohit disappointed over inadequate acknowledgement of home Test series win

For Rohit, winning a Test series holds value irrespective of the venue, opposition, or playing conditions.

By Salman Anjum - 27 Feb, 2024

Team India on Monday (February 26) completed a five-wicket victory over England in the fourth Test at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

With this victory, the hosts secured an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. It was India’s record-extending 17 consecutive Test series wins on home soil.

After the triumph, India skipper Rohit Sharma expressed his disappointment over the inadequate acknowledgment of a Test series victory at home and slammed the tendency of critics to heavily scrutinize the team in the event of a defeat.

For Rohit, winning a Test series holds value irrespective of the venue, opposition, or playing conditions.

"Home and away, you can differentiate between the two but if you win at home, not a lot is spoken about, it's like 'oh no India are supposed to win at home'," Rohit said at the post-match press conference in Ranchi.

"If you don't then I know what happens as well, but yeah, like you said clearly every series win, whichever team you play against, whenever you play, Test series win is a Test series, no matter the conditions or the country you play in," he added.

Despite succeeding in another Test series at home, Rohit wasn’t sure whether this would compensate for the heartbreaking loss in the Cricket World Cup final to Australia last November.

"It's gruelling. Playing a five-match series is not easy. That's what Test cricket is all about. You find your way, keep fighting, whatever contest you are in, with the bat or the ball, you have to do that consistently over a period of may be five to seven weeks.

"So it's quite pleasing. But again, I don't want to compare the World Cup and this series win because both are different formats. But I am quite pleased with this result," he said.

With the series already sealed, India may extend ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah's break.

"I have no idea. We have not sat down and discussed," Rohit said of Bumrah, who was rested for the penultimate Test match as part of the workload management.

Rohit showered rich praise on young talents like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, and Akash Deep for playing a big part in the Test series victory.

"These guys have come in have done the job perfectly, they have taken the responsibility perfectly, and I mean you can take a lot of pride from performances like this with inexperienced players," the Indian captain stated.

Chasing 192 to win, India found themselves struggling at 120/5 in Ranchi but the duo of Shubman Gill and Jurel stitched an unbroken 72-run partnership to take the home team over the line.

"Whatever you say, Test cricket throws different kinds of challenges, different kinds of pressures, but some of these (youngsters), the way they have dealt with the pressures throughout the series, has been superb," Rohit said.

He added, "Many of these guys are quite young, and you'll see these guys playing regularly in this format for the coming 5-10 years for sure."

Left-handed opener Jaiswal, who is the leading run-getter of the series so far with 655 runs from eight innings, is "hunky-dory", according to Rohit.

"Our job is to make sure that the environment is there for the youngsters to go out there and do the job, and that is what we try and do with a lot of these players," Rohit explained.

"A lot of these guys are quite grounded, to be honest. Jaiswal is still hunky-dory, but other than that all these guys are quite humble, they come from a humble background, so they obviously take that into their game as well."

Rohit also responded to criticism about the Ranchi pitch which was believed to be a "rank turner".

"One guy made a hundred, one a 90 and two made 50s. What happens on it, matters. I think whatever we saw of the four days' play... It's India's nature that the ball spins and it remains low. Not just now, but this has been the case for 50 years.

"It's not that the batters couldn't bat, and bowlers couldn't bowl. In fact, bowlers were very happy to bowl on this wicket. Even for batters, if you applied yourselves, making big runs wasn't difficult.

"The way (Joe) Root batted, made a 100. Dhruv Jurel played in such a situation for the first time, second Test and he made runs. More than the runs, see how many balls he played."

(With PTI Inputs)

By Salman Anjum - 27 Feb, 2024

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