After starting his Test captaincy journey with an innings and 222 runs victory over Sri Lanka, India skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday (March 6) said the bigger challenge than winning games is to create "bench strength."

In fact, Rohit has taken it upon himself to ensure that he leaves Indian cricket in "good hands" looking at the future.

Notably, the Indian Test team is going through a transition phase. The selectors have dropped veteran batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane after a prolonged lean patch while senior pacer Ishant Sharma and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha have also been sidelined.

WATCH - Rohit asks Virat to step back for guard of honour; Virat acknowledges the captain's gesture

"If you create that bench strength and you start thinking from now, Indian cricket will be in good hands. This is one of my challenges and one of my responsibilities. I have to take it upon me to create that bench strength, keeping in mind a lot of things," Rohit said after winning the Mohali Test against Sri Lanka.

"It's going to be my biggest challenge more than winning games and all of that. For me what is important is how I approach those guys who are sitting outside and how I can get them in a good mindset.

"When they get an opportunity they should be very clear as to what they want to go out there and achieve. That will impact all our performances whether we win or lose games."

According to Rohit, the onus is on team management to create that atmosphere where players feel secure.

"You can't just say you have to win games. While winning games there are a lot of things you need to do: create bench strength, give clarity to people, create a good environment so that it's a nice and happy atmosphere where people want to go out there and do their job.

"They should not feel too much pressure. Of course, when you are playing international cricket, pressure is there. But that external pressure shouldn't be there, internal pressure is fine."

"We will try and back them as much as possible so that at the end of the day when they come back home, they feel 'I got my opportunity, if I didn't do well I'm still happy as long as the role was given to me, there was clarity'. As long as that procedure is put in place, we will hold ourselves in good shape."

While the captain isn’t sure whether Hanuma Vihari is a long-term number three replacing Cheteshwar Pujara but he cleared that the former will bat in that slot in recent future.

"We are not so certain about anything at the moment. We are understanding what is right at this particular time and moving forward. In time to come you will realise who is the No. 3 player for us.

"At the moment, it is Vihari and he did pretty well. He will continue to do that in the next Test as well. I honestly can't tell you about the future because the future is very uncertain. We need to live in the present and focus on what lies ahead in the next game," Rohit said.

"It's important to do that, give these guys confidence and we will take it from there. We are very open minded as a team management, so whatever suits the best for the team we will try and take that call."

With the knock of 175* and the match haul of 9/87, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja starred in India’s emphatic victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka.

Commenting on Jadeja, Rohit said: "As a captain, I want to use Jadeja a lot more with the bat. We all know his bowling. Everyone knows about his fielding. I hope I get the opportunity to use his batting more in the future because we have got a lot of young players who we also need to see."

"Hunger is something that drives athletes to move forward. I see that clearly in Jadeja. He's hungry for success, he's hungry to get runs and do well for the team. When I talk to him about certain things he is very open-minded. He wants to take the responsibility, he wants to take the challenge," he added.

(With PTI inputs)