Rohit Sharma expresses delight in playing with youngsters during England Tests
India recently outplayed England during home series, taking 4-1 lead in the five Tests. The series saw a lot of youngsters stepping up for the Indian team, as senior pros like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami remained unavailable due to various reasons. During the series, the wicketkeeping duties were taken over by Dhruv Jurel for the third, fourth and fifth game, respectively.
The recent banter between Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel at an event over a dismissal prediction had garnered wide attention. The issue they were debating on was, who had predicted Ollie Pope’s advancement before he got dismissed off Kuldeep Yadav. The internet termed the voice that came from behind before Pope got dismissed as of Jurel’s. But, Sarfaraz differed and claimed that it was his voice who was also standing at leg slip.
Amidst all this hullabaloo, the Indian captain Rohit Sharma has revealed the player who constructed the wicket. He credited Sarfaraz for anticipating the dismissal just before the ball was bowled and alerted wicket-keeper Jurel to brace himself. He also said that he enjoyed playing with the young batch of the Indian team. Notably, a surprising number of five players debuted for India in the red-ball series.
“By the way, that stumping was brilliant. Sarfaraz Khan was the one who predicted that. I had stationed him a bit further up, in short leg, when he said, ‘Now, he’ll leave the crease. Be ready for a stumping.’ Next ball… brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with these boys. Hopefully, in the future, we’ll play a lot more,” Sharma said in a video that has gone viral on social media.
Rohit Sharma reunites with Mumbai Indians camp
The India skipper has assumed his duties for Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the 17th season of IPL, not as a captain though. He was replaced by Hardik Pandya as the captain of the successful franchise. The move came after Pandya was traded by Gujarat Titans (GT) to Mumbai Indians for a lump sum amount of INR 15 crore. It is worth noting that the Indian all-rounder had led the GT to an IPL trophy in 2022 and managed to reach the finals in 2023 only to succumb against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
However, Sharma boasts an enviable track record of leading Mumbai to five championship titles, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with MS Dhoni, who has the same number of titles as captain. Post the Indian Premier League draws to a close, the ace batter will be captaining the Indian team in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which is slated to start from June in West Indies and United States of America.
