India captain Rohit Sharma was at his best once again as he addressed the media after the team’s memorable victory against South Africa in Cape Town. Rohit blasted the ICC match referees, and took on critics who often criticsise the Indian wickets when games conclude early. After the Cape Town Test ended within the first two days, Rohit didn’t hesitate in calling out the match referees, asking them to be more neutral. In the presser, Rohit didn’t just silence Indian wickets’ critics but also stumped a reporter who tried to ask him about his T20I future, keeping the forthcoming series against Afghanistan in mind.
“Dimaag laga rahe ho aap(You are using you brain)…let’s concentrate on Cape Town now”, Rohit said in the press conference, giving a cheeky reply to a reporter.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reportedly close to announcing the squad for the T20I series against Afghanistan, beginning January 11. Both Rohit and Virat Kohli are said to be available for selection.
Further in the press conference, Rohit rated India’s Cape Town win as one of the team’s finest ever.
“It will be one of our best Test match victories. Having never won here, it’s right up there with all the victories we have had,” the exhausted skipper said at the end of the shortest Test match in the history of the game.
He didn’t wish to get drawn into comparisons but Rohit felt that winning a Test at Brisbane, where no visiting team could beat the Aussies for 33 years, was as big a deal as becoming the first Asian Test team to come up trumps at the pacey Newlands.
“It’s hard to compare Tests which you win elsewhere. Hard to rank these Tests. Every Test match has it’s own relevance and importance. The game in Gabba. The last time Australia lost there was 1988, I think. It became their fortress and the way we won that Test was important,” the skipper said.
“You can’t really rank the Tests. It’s right up there though. That shows how important a venue it is to come here and win. Credit to the team.” He said, in a roundabout manner, that he would love to play in a three-match Test series but he would take this draw which was a good start to 2024.
“That’s not in our hand. I can’t decide fixtures, I would do something else entirely. What’s there is there. We take pride in playing this series,” the skipper answered when asked if a three-match series would have been ideal.
“We lost the first game, they played well. We won here, we played well. Cape Town, we have never won here, for this young group, this is matter of pride for us. We can take confidence from this series,” said the Indian skipper.
India are back on top in the World Test Championship points table and the skipper said that winning this game was important after losing points due to slow over-rate.
With PTI inputs
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