India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma has been the talk of the town ever since arriving in Australia. The 33-year-old cricketer received a warm welcome from his teammates including head coach Ravi Shastri in Melbourne.
Rohit looks in good shape now and is looking forward to swing his arms in the next two Tests. India lost the first Test at Adelaide Oval. Team India came under fire for registering the lowest score in Test cricket. Australia defeated them by 8 wickets to take the opening lead of the series.
Indian captain Virat Kohli delivered an emotional pep talk to his players before flying to his hometown. The 32-year-old skipper is with his wife Anushka Sharma as the couple are expecting the arrival of their first child in early January.
Ajinkya Rahane is leading the side in Kohli’s absence. He led the team ever so well in the second Test at MCG. India made a huge statement by keeping the Aussies at bay in crunch situations of the game.
The visitors comfortably won the game by 8 wickets to level the series. It will be quite interesting to see the level of intent and character from both teams in the next two Tests.
Rohit Sharma’s return is an added advantage to Team India for the next two Tests. Sydney Cricket Ground will host the third Test match on January 7. The team management would sincerely hope that the veteran cricketer would deliver the much-needed amends.
Ravi Shastri welcomes Rohit Sharma
Indian teammates welcomed Rohit Sharma in a grand fashion. Moments later, head coach Ravi Shastri turned up to welcome his player Rohit. The 33-year-old completed a mandatory quarantine procedure for 14 days before joining the Indian cricket team.
After seeing him, he asked: “How was your quarantine?”. Rohit simply smiled at the coach. Shastri also complemented the cricketer by saying: “You are looking young”.
Watch the video:
Earlier, BCCI didn’t name Rohit in the limited-overs series. The limited-overs vice-captain was last seen in cricketing action in the Indian Premier League. He led Mumbai Indians to 5th IPL trophy.
Rohit Sharma fit and raring to go against Australia
After title glory, he flew to Bengaluru and arrived at the NCA to work on his fitness. After days of hard work, he got back to good shape. He passed the fitness test and was also declared fit by the physios.
The BCCI medical team gave Rohit a green signal to take part in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series. Now that Rohit is back, the management will rely on his duties for the upcoming two Tests.
Rohit hasn’t played much Test cricket in his career. However, he has slowly established himself as a reputed opener in the longest format of the game. He played 32 games and scored 2,141 runs with a batting average of 46.54. He hit 6 centuries, 10 fifties, and a double century.
