"Played With Sarfaraz's Dad": Rohit Says Test Cap Belongs To Him As Well

Skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said he revelled in the company of his young “mischievous” teammates and was overwhelmed by emotions as they made their debuts during India’s monumental 4-1 Test series triumph over England. In absence of some big stars including Virat Kohli, the five-Test home series saw five youngsters — Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Akash Deep and Devdutt Padikkal — make their debut as India showed resilience to fight back after losing the opening Test in Hyderabad.

“Personally, mujhe inke saath kaam karke bahut maza aya. Jitne bhi young ladke the… sabkaafi chulbule the. (I really loved playing with them. All of them are very mischievous),” Rohit said on his Instagram handle “Team Ro”.

“I knew most of them well and what their strengths are and how they want to play the game. It was just for me to give them the comfort by talking about how good they are and the good things they have done in the past. The way they responded to me and Rahul bhai (coach Rahul Dravid) was superb.” Moved by the youngster’s stories and the emotions surrounding it, Rohit said he was “lost in their debuts”.

“I was lost in the debut of all these boys. Their parents were also there, there were a lot of emotions. I really enjoyed seeing their debuts.”

The India skipper cited the example of Sarfaraz Khan, saying he had seen his journey, having played against his father as a youngster.

“I was just lost in their debuts. I was enjoying their debuts so much because their parents were there. There was so much emotion. I have played with Sarfaraz’s father in Kanga league when I was very young.

“His father was a left handed batter. He was an aggressive player and very well known in Mumbai cricket circles. I wanted to acknowledge his effort and hard work that had paid off with his son playing for India. I just wanted to tell him that his son’s Test cap belongs as much to him as his son,” Rohit said.