Hyderabad: India captain Rohit Sharma hailed the performance of the debutants in the recently concluded Test series against England and called the series one of the toughest of his Test career.
Speaking exclusively about the hard-fought series on 'Team Ro' on Instagram, Rohit said, "A five Test match series is always tough, always hard, a lot of challenges through that one and a half to two months that we need to go through."
"It was a very different experience to play that five Test series and against an opposition like England, we knew it was never going to be easy. We have to be at our best and certainly towards the end, I could say that we are at our best to come out on top on four occasions. So very, very pleased with how we played that series,” added the star right-handed batter.
The series also challenged Rohit the captain and he enjoyed finding solutions to the various challenges he faced.
"As a captain, the series made me think about a lot of stuff as to what we need to do, how we can stop these guys, how we can put pressure on them. There were a lot of talks behind the scenes. Luckily, I have got a superb support staff around me who are there to help and guide me,” added the Mumbaikar.
Rohit highlighted the display of the youngsters as a major positive from the series and was impressed by their approach.
"I really enjoyed playing with the youngsters. All of them are very mischievous. I knew most of them well and what their strengths are and how to they want to play the game. It was just me talking to them 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," added Rohit.
Rohit was moved by the youngster’s stories and he 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. I have played with Sarfaraz's father in the 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," said Rohit, who was part of India's 2007 T20 World Cup winning squad.
India lost the opening Test at Hyderabad but Rohit was always confident of bouncing back.
"It was important to stay calm and just let it flow. It was important to send the message to the group that we don't need to panic and there are still four more Test matches to go," he said.
India leads the World Test Championship standings and is also ranked as the No.1 Test Team in the ICC rankings.
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