Rohit Sharma credits Indian cricket’s two legendary figures for giving him ‘second birth’ in Tests

New Delhi: Despite having an exceptionally good initiate to his Test career in 2013 with back-to-back centuries, Rohit Sharma became never an average feature your entire way at some stage in the Indian playing XI till 2019. With Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and KL Rahul alternatively opening the batting for India at some point of that phase in Tests, Rohit found himself your entire way at some stage in the middle-order with inconsistency being his sole companion.

Now now to not place out of your mind, one of worthwhile-hander became an average opener for India in white-ball cricket back then and had a cracking 2019 ODI World Cup in England where he smashed 5 hundreds. His explosive batting at the World Cup didn’t do any good for Rohit until then captain Virat kohli and then head coach Ravi Shastri decided to ask to Rohit to open the batting in Tests too.

It became the identical time Rahul became struggling as an opener your entire way at some stage in the longest format. The move worked wonders for Rohit as he consistently delivered in his new role. Speaking on sports presenter Jatin Sapru’s YouTube channel, Rohit revealed how Kohli and Shastri revived his Test career.

“In the 2nd innings, I became very grateful to Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli for giving me the chance to bat up the order. It wasn’t a straightforward decision to advertise me in Tests. They trusted me. They asked me to play one practice match, which I did,” he said.

“I got out on the very first ball, but I realised that I didn’t have the opposite choice. It felt like a 2nd birth in Test cricket. I knew I needed to take hold of this opportunity, whether it meant opening, batting at No. five or six, and even lower down the order,” revealed Rohit.

Like in white-ball, Rohit went with an open mind in Tests too, playing his natural game. “My response to them became clear: I might play my natural game and won’t take the pressure of attempting to live to tell the tale. I’m going to play freely. If the ball is there, whether it’s the primary ball of the Test or now now not, I’m going to hit it. They gave me the freedom to do what I wanted,” he said.

Since then, Rohit has been enjoying a purple patch with the bat in red-ball cricket. Out of his 4179 Test runs, Rohit scored 2594 runs in 34 Tests while opening the batting. Overall, Rohit played sixty one Tests thus a ways. Despite the whole thing, his success with the bat at the highest in Tests also saw him becoming the captain in 2022.

For the record, under Rohit’s captaincy, India haven’t lost a single Test series. In 18 Tests that Rohit has captained, India won 12 of them.