Rohit Sharma’s achievement as a cricketer is surreal, to say the least. He has taken Indian cricket to greater heights with his batting and captaincy over the years.
Rohit has represented India in 60 Tests, 265 ODIs and 159 T20Is so far, amassing more than 19000 international runs with 48 centuries. He has led India in over 100 matches and has a win percentage of over 70, which also includes the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph.
However, the journey hasn’t been smooth sailing for Rohit, who encountered many challenges in different phases of career but didn’t let his guard down.
Recently, Rohit Sharma offered insights into his tough childhood, travelling hours in local trains to train to become the cricketer he is now.
The Indian skipper revealed that he used to spend a lot of his time travelling for training sessions in Mumbai.
“The sport has got so much demand, you have to give a lot of time to meet those demands whether it is training, fitness, learning skills and travelling. Not to forget the travelling because in Mumbai, if you want to be a cricketer, you have to travel and you have to do the hard yards by travelling from one corner to the other corner and it is not easy. So I spent a lot of time travelling rather than playing because when I was young because, I used to live at the other corner of Mumbai and the training was happening at the other corner of Mumbai. So travelling was a big part of my life and it took a lot of toll on my body as well on me mentally as well. Because at that age you sometimes you don’t realise, it is so hectic and it takes so much time out of you, so much energy out of you,” Rohit said in an interview on YouTube channel Fittr.
“If I have to think about it now when I have to go and sleep in the night, I used to realise how tired I was. And at that age you, you are not supposed to be so tired but you used to get tired travelling 2-2 hours in train and then playing for 5 hours, 6 hours and then travelling back again. And you are not sure whether you are going to get a seat in the local train. So you have to stand with your like 15 KG kit bag on your shoulders. So I have no complaints. I have no regrets. I enjoyed that and that is what made me what I am today. The hard, those hard yards is what I believe that it helps me today as well to make tough decisions. If I have to go through something which is not easy, I know with what I have done in the past, I can go through anything. So those are the learnings I have had in the past and you know, I feel very proud of it. I love every moment of it and it has helped me in my game even now. So I am very grateful to have that kind of time back then. I know it was tough, but nothing is easy in life,” he added.
When asked about being a relatable star who struggled in his younger days, Rohit mentioned that upbringing is something that can never change regardless of the success one gets.
“It is just the upbringing and I don’t believe with time, yeah, you’ve got to change a lot of things in you as a person, but the upbringing will never change. Who you are, you can’t because what’s in you, it’s there in you. True. So just to show off to the outside world that no, this is not me, I am different. I don’t believe in all that tough times but we don’t regret. Even now when I sit with my parents, we talk about it but we do not have any regrets,” he stated.
“But I will tell you 90 per cent of the cricketers have the same story. They all come from a very poor background and they all have to do these kind of things. That is why mentally, if you see a lot of us play on the field, they are mentally very tough because if you can go through that, you can go through anything, anything in life. Yeah, the magnitude of every hardship will be different. But if you, if you get your mind right and you tell your mind that this is what is there in front of me and it is going to be tough to cross that. But if you get your mind right, that no, no matter what it is, I have to cross that, I have to go through that to reach another level. You will go through that because I think your mind is the most powerful thing and you have to use it the best possible way you can,” he further remarked.
