“Jaiswal is hunky-dory, but all these guys are quite humble” - Rohit Sharma gets cheeky while praising youngsters after Ranchi triumph
Team India captain Rohit Sharma hailed the youngsters for playing a significant part in the Test series win over England, following their five-wicket win in Ranchi on Monday, February 26. While praising the young guns, Rohit termed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal as hunky-dory, adding that all the youngsters are quite grounded.
India gained an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-game series by beating England in the fourth Test in Ranchi. The triumph is significant, as the hosts were without star batter Virat Kohli. KL Rahul played only one Test, while Shreyas Iyer has been dropped due to poor form.
In the absence of seniors, Jaiswal has stood up and delivered. He's the leading run-getter in the series with 655 runs. Sarfaraz Khan scored fifties in both innings of his debut Test in Rajkot, while Dhruv Jurel was the Player of the Match for his fabulous batting efforts in both innings in Ranchi.
At a post-match press conference following India’s series triumph, Rohit hailed the impressive performances of youngsters.
"A lot of these guys are quite grounded, to be honest. Jaiswal is still hunky-dory, but other than that all these guys are quite humble, they come from a humble background, so they obviously take that into their game as well. Our job is to make sure that the environment is there for them to go out there and do the job, and that is what we try and do with a lot of these younger players,” the Indian captain said.
“They have spent a lot of time playing domestic cricket, so they are quite aware of this particular format, playing longer innings, bowling longer spells, they're quite aware of that. And just when they come in for a series like this, obviously it's important for us to understand what their thinking is, and then obviously mix and match a little bit with what we think and what they think, and then you form a strategy around it," Rohit added.
Keeper-batter Jurel scored 90 in the first innings in Ranchi after the middle order had collapsed. In the second innings as well, he came in under pressure but guided the team to victory in the company of Shubman Gill.
“One guy made a hundred, one a 90, and two made 50s” - Rohit on Ranchi pitch
As has been the norm of sorts, a few former England players did not quite like the look of the Ranchi surface. Some pointed out the prominent cracks in the pitch. For Rohit, though, the chatter around the pitch was nothing new.
Asked about his assessment of the surface, he noted:
"One guy made a hundred, one a 90 and two made 50s.” He went on to add,
“Wicket may be any way to look at, but that doesn't matter. What happens on it, matters. I think whatever we saw of the four days' play... It's India's nature that the ball spins, and it remains low. Not just now, but this has been the case for 50 years."
The Indian captain elaborated that there was something for both batters and bowlers in the Ranchi strip.
“It's not that the batters couldn't bat, and bowlers couldn't bowl. In fact, bowlers were very happy to bowl on this wicket. Even for batters, if you applied yourselves, making big runs wasn't difficult. The way Root batted, made a 100.
"Dhruv Jurel played in such a situation for the first time, second Test and he made runs. More than the runs, see how many balls he played. If you can survive more than 150 balls, there is nothing left,” Rohit concluded.
The Ranchi Test came to a close just before the end of the second session on Day 4 as India chased down 192 in 61 overs.