Rohit Sharma aims to resurrect Test career with Sri Lanka series

Rohit Sharma aims to resurrect Test career with Sri Lanka series: If there is one attribute you can not beat Rohit Sharma in, it has to be his talent. He is easy on the eye prolific with his strokes and sensational with his timing. But for much too long this talented man has done very little justice to the skill he commands. Many wouldn’t know that he represented India an year before the new test skipper Virat Kohli.

In 2009, just when the Mumbai star was due to make his test debut, he broke his finger and missed out on a golden opportunity. “It was quite frustrating knowing that I was going to make (Test) debut in 2009 and I had to wait for 4 years after that. It’s never easy because you work hard to get that Test cap. But I was happy with whatever I was doing. I was still playing ODIs but Test cricket was something which I wanted to play then” Rohit lamented.

As luck or bad luck would have it, the right hander had to wait another 5 years to get his test cap. He got it during Sachin’s retirement series and pretty much made it count with a century on debut. And we all thought that he has finally arrived but what followed was disappointment. He failed to do anything off note in the subsequent foreign tours of South Africa and New Zealand. He could only get one test in the England series thereafter. Down under Rohit was expected to make it big considering the placid pitches for the 4 test series but could not make any impact in the chances he got.

Acknowledging that he is in a “very tricky position” in his Test career Rohit said he wants to utilize the upcoming Sri Lanka tour and the subsequent tour of South Africa at home to cement his spot in the five-day format. Rohit, who has just one fifty in his last 11 Test innings, has been subject to criticism from several quarters for his non-performance in the five-day format in the aftermath of Cheteshwar Pujara’s omission from the playing eleven for the last two games.

Rohit in an interview with bcci.tv said, “I stand in a very tricky position, I definitely want to do well in every Test match I am playing but it’s not easy knowing how Test matches are played these days. It’s a challenge and I love challenges. The Sri Lanka series and after that we have a lot of series in India. It will be great opportunity for me to go and perform there,”

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Elaborating further, he said, “It does bother when you don’t get runs in Test matches but I don’t want to keep sulking about it. I want to look forward. I am a positive person so I only look forward to good things. I hope I can change things around a little bit (in the Sri Lanka series) for me and my country. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. The Test cap is priceless and very close to me. I don’t want to let that go so easily.

Not just me you ask any cricketer, nobody wants to lose that spot. You know how much you need to work to get that spot. Test spot never came to me very easy. I had to wait for 6 years in fact. I was scoring heavily in Ranji Trophy but we had a strong middle order that time and I knew I had to wait. I was never frustrated. My aim was to keep doing well in Ranji Trophy and ODIs for India. I knew if I keep doing the right things I will get my Test spot.” he said.

Rohit will compete with Pujara for the No.3 role in the Test side with captain Virat Kohli having expressed his desire to play five specialist bowlers in Tests. The first Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka starts on August 12 at the Galle International Stadium.