"He always felt that maybe certain things didn’t go his way" - Dinesh Karthik on Rohit Sharma's Test career
Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has claimed that his good friend Rohit Sharma always had faith that he could contribute significantly to Team India's success in the longest format. The 35-year-old made his Test debut in 2013, but it was not until late 2019 that he was able to cement his place in the Test team.
Rohit Sharma had a stellar 2021 tour of England, where he scored 368 runs in just four Tests, including a maiden overseas Test hundred at The Oval. However. Karthik spoke about how luck didn't always favor the Indian captain when it came to Test cricket in the past.
Speaking on the show Summer Stalemate on Cricbuzz on Thursday, here's what Karthik had to say about Rohit's struggles in Test cricket:
"He (Rohit) has found answers to some, and he has not found answers to some. Rohit always believed that he had something to contribute to Test cricket. In the conversations that I have had, he always felt that maybe certain things didn’t go his way."
Karthik added:
"Sometimes, he played a reckless shot or two but he believed that he will come back. Interestingly, he didn’t come back at the speed that he would and he resigned to the fact that maybe it’s just going to be white-ball cricket for him now."
Start of Rohit Sharma as a Test captain.
https://t.co/CRBlspuVAR
Dinesh Karthik on Rohit Sharma's incredible start to Test cricket
Rohit Sharma was probably supposed to make his Test debut against South Africa in 2010, but couldn't as he injured his leg during warmups. He had to wait for three more years as he finally received his maiden Test cap in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series against West Indies in 2013.
On this day in 2013, @ImRo45 scored his 2nd test century 111*(127) 11 fours & 3 sixes with a strike rate of 87.40 aganist West Indies at Mumbai.
#RohitSharma https://t.co/V1ELZ4r47e
The debutant scored an incredible 177 in Kolkata and backed it up with a fantastic 111 on his home ground in Mumbai. Many thought this was perhaps a beautiful story about how India found their long-term replacement for Tendulkar in Tests.
On this, Karthik stated:
"I don’t think there have been many who’ve had a start as successful as Rohit in Test cricket from an Indian point of view. In his first two matches, he got hundreds… and then everybody thought this is it – he is the big deal and the fact that Sachin is retiring from Test cricket, he is the one who is going to answer all those questions for us."
Can Rohit Sharma win the World Test Championship title before he retires from Test cricket? Let us know in the comments.