“We have the strength to play on any wicket and win” - Rohit Sharma after Rajkot triumph
Team India captain Rohit Sharma asserted that his side can perform on any kind of surface and win Test matches on it. While referring to India’s triumphs in Rajkot and Cape Town on completely different pitches, he clarified that the team management doesn’t have any say on the kind of surfaces that are prepared for home Tests.
India hammered England by 434 runs in Rajkot on Sunday, February 18, to register their biggest Test win in terms of runs. After setting the visitors a massive target of 557, India skittled out England for 122 in 39.4 overs.
At the post-match press conference, Rohit reflected on Team India’s comprehensive win and opined that they have delivered results irrespective of the surface on offer.
“We have won a lot of matches on such wickets before. The turning tracks and on pitches where the ball turns remain our strength. It gives us balance. We have given results for many years and we will get results in the future as well. But we don't have control over certain things — we don't discuss whether we want rank turners or not. We come here (at the venues) two days before the match and how much can we do anyway in two days?,” the Indian captain said.
“The curators decide and make the pitch. We have the strength to play on any wicket and win on it. When we won the Test in South Africa (at Cape Town), everyone knows what kind of wicket it was,” he added.
Emphasizing further on the versatility of the side, Rohit pointed out that India have played on three different surfaces in the ongoing series against England.
“(In) the last three Tests we played, there were different challenges. In the first Test (Hyderabad), the ball was spinning and the pitch was slow. In Vizag, it was (keeping) low. As the game progressed, the wicket became slower. Here, it played well for the first three days,” the Indian captain stated.
“Today, we saw that the ball was turning and it was low. This is (in) the nature (of pitches), we get pitches like these in India. But if we get rank turners, we will play on them as well,” he added.
India lost the first Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs. They came back strongly to clinch the second Test in Visakhapatnam by 106 runs before registering another impressive win in Rajkot.
“Very good feeling to win a game with such a young team” - Rohit Sharma
India went into the Rajkot Test with two debutants - Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel - both of whom made significant contributions to the team’s win. They have been without Virat Kohli’s services from the start of the series, while KL Rahul has missed the last two Tests.
Rohit admitted that it was pleasing to win a Test with a young team that has players who do not have a lot of experience.
“Obviously it's a very good feeling to win a game like that and especially with such a young team as well. (We had) two debutants (Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel) and not a lot of Test matches amongst the playing eleven as well,” Rohit said.
“A lot of these guys are learning from the experience that they're having in the middle. We got to learn a lot about how we played in Hyderabad and then in Vizag when we won,” he added.
The fourth Test of the India-England series begins in Ranchi on Friday, February 23.