Rohit was lost in joy of Test debutants

PTI

New Delhi, March 20

Skipper Rohit Sharma today said he revelled in the company of his young “mischievous” teammates and was overwhelmed by emotions as many made their debuts during India’s monumental 4-1 Test series triumph over England.

In the absence of some big stars, including Virat Kohli, the five-Test home series saw five players — Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep and Devdutt Padikkal — make their debut as India showed resilience to fight back after losing the opening Test.

“Personally, I really loved playing with them. All of them are very mischievous,” Rohit said. “I knew most of them well and what their strengths are and how they want to play the game. It was just for me to give them the comfort by talking about how good they are and the good things they have done in the past. The way they responded to me and Rahul bhai (coach Rahul Dravid) was superb,” he added.

The India skipper cited the example of Sarfaraz Khan, saying he had seen his journey, having played against his father as a youngster.

“I was just lost in their debuts. I was enjoying their debuts so much because their parents were there. There was so much emotion,” he said.

“I have played with Sarfaraz’s father in Kanga league when I was very young. His father was a left-handed batter. He was an aggressive player and very well known in Mumbai cricket circles. I wanted to acknowledge his effort and hard work that had paid off with his son playing for India. I just wanted to tell him that his son’s Test cap belongs as much to him as his son,” he added.

He was high on praise for Indian spin ace Ravichandran Ashwin who returned with 26 wickets in the series. “Ash’s career speaks for himself. He’s a matchwinner for Team India be it overseas or at home. Imagine the pressure he goes through, to come out on top and keep delivering series after series says a lot about him. I loved it. I hope we play a lot of cricket together in future as well,” he said.

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