"You can’t be as talented as Rohit Sharma and not crack test cricket" – When Nasser Hussain backed Indian batter after he was dropped in 2018
While Rohit Sharma took to white-ball cricket on the big stage like fish takes to water, it took him a while to crack the code in Test cricket. After a much delayed red-ball debut for India in November 2013, he announced himself with hundreds, batting in the middle-order in his first two Tests. However, he could not build on the great start and was constantly in and out of the team over the next few years.
During the 2017-18 tour of South Africa, Rohit featured in the first two Tests but was dropped for the third match of the series after only managing a highest score of 47 and looked out of sorts in most knocks. Ajinkya Rahane replaced him for the third Test at the Wanderers.
While the decision to axe Rohit wasn't surprising, former England captain Nasser Hussain took to his X handle (then Twitter) and shared a post, vehemently supporting the Indian star and backing him to succeed as a Test batter. He wrote:
“If Rohit Sharma is not a test match batsman, then I have been watching a different Rohit Sharma over the last 5 years!!”
"No ... you can’t be as talented as Rohit Sharma and not crack test cricket .. India needs to stick with him !! Don’t worry about the stats use your eyes and gut feeling," the 56-year-old went on to add in another post.
Rohit returned to the playing XI during the 2018-19 tour of Australia. He contributed 37 in Adelaide and an unbeaten 63 in Melbourne.
Rohit Sharma's stunning Test turnaround as opener
The talented Indian batter finally established himself in the Test format when he was moved up to open the innings during the 2019 home series against South Africa.
The right-handed batter had a fabulous series and amassed 529 runs in four innings at an average of 132.25. He scored 176 and 127 in Visakhapatnam and 212 in Ranchi. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since the start of the home series against South Africa in October 2019, Rohit has featured in 33 Tests, scoring 2,563 runs at an average of 48.35, with nine centuries.
He is also India's Test skipper. Overall, the 37-year-old has played 60 Tests, scoring 4,148 runs at an average of 44.60, with 12 hundreds and 17 fifties.