Looks like they belong here: Rohit Sharma on India’s young guns

PTI, Feb 18, 2024, 8:59 PM IST

Credit: X / @BCCI

Rajkot: India skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday credited the young and inexperienced members of his side for their role in delivering the team’s biggest-ever Test win, in terms of runs, here on Sunday. India bowled out England for just 122 after setting a 557-run target in the fourth Test to go 2-1 up in the five-match series here.

“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 told the media here after India’s win.

“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.”

Both Sarfaraz and Jurel gave a good account of themselves in the game. Rohit said India have had to work really hard given the circumstances (injuries to senior players).

“We knew it’s not going to be an easy one for us to just come out here and win the series. We have (had) to work really, really hard, especially with a lot of our front line players missing as well,” Rohit said.

“A lot of credit to these young boys who have come in and showed a lot of character. Looks like they actually belong here and they want to stay here as well,” he added.

Rohit said he was surprised given the how quickly the game ended on the fourth day, adding that India wanted to have a certain number of overs available to bowl England out and not a particular target.

“I thought the game will go on to the fifth day. We had only 40 overs to bowl today. We thought 130 overs to get them out will be quite comfortable for us. That’s probably (was) the reason,” he said.

“It was not more than the runs, it was more of how many overs do we need to get them out. That was the decision that was taken. By no means I expected that we’ll get over by this evening,” he added.

Rohit said losing Ravichandran Ashwin after second day’s play was ‘difficult’ but praised the ace India spinner for joining the team back on the fourth and final day following a medical emergency in his family .

“When you lose your most experienced bowler, especially in the middle of the Test match, it’s not easy. But everything was (at a) side, family comes first,” Rohit said.

“When we heard the news, there was no second thought in our mind that he should do what he feels is right. He wanted to be with the family, which is an absolutely right thing to do and good on him to actually make a way and come here and be part of the team on this day as well,” he added.

“(It) shows the character and shows the kind of person he is, wanting to put everything ahead for the team,” Rohit said.

Rohit preferred to let Yashasvi Jaiswal carry on with his red-hot form and not speak much about it. “I won’t say anything about Jaiswal now, everyone is talking about him. Let him play. He’s playing well and (that) is good for us. He’s in good form. I’m not going to say much more than that,” he said.