'Others will catch up a lot earlier': Rohit feels he could be last to join Team India when training starts

Rohit resides in Mumbai which is India’s worst-hit city with the COVID-19 outbreak.

India batsman Rohit Sharma is an ardent football fan. He has often expressed his liking for Spanish giants Real Madrid. In fact, LaLiga made him their brand ambassador for India in December 2019 and Sharma went to Spain to witness the El-Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona earlier this year.

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Speaking LaLiga's Facebook page, Rohit on Saturday (May 23) said: "When I am at home I watch football more than cricket. When you are watching it, it’s so pleasing to the eye to watch all these players execute their skills, I am a big believer in skills and that is why I love watching football. I do watch some tennis as well but not as much as I watch football."

Notably, all the Indian cricketers have been spending time at home ever since the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in the country on March 24.

As Mumbai is India’s worst-hit city with the deadly outbreak, Rohit feels he could be the last person to rejoin the national team whenever training resumes.

"In India, it is going to be different as certain parts of the country have been affected the most and certain parts which have not been affected a lot. So I am assuming that those places might open up a lot earlier than Mumbai, the city where I stay and which is the most infected. I feel the other guys will send me videos of catching up with each other a lot earlier than I do," he said.

Rohit Sharma also revealed that he would have been a midfielder had he pursued his career as a professional footballer.

"I would see myself playing in midfield and not attacking too much because that position is very skillful and you have to create a lot of chances and I don't like running a lot. It's a position where you not only create opportunities but also stop the opposition from creating opportunities,” he stated.

"I have tried playing a charity football game here in India, it was Bollywood against the cricketers, the All-stars and it was damn tough. It was 5-6 years ago, I remember, I was 25-26 (years of age) there were a lot of older guys in the team who just did not want to do the running and made us do the running instead. Mahi (MS Dhoni), Yuvraj (Singh) and Virat (Kohli) were there in the team, Yuvraj, is someone who doesn't like to run and so is MS Dhoni," the Indian white-ball vice-captain added.

(With IANS inputs)