Rohit Sharma reflected on India’s memorable Test series wins in Australia, calling both victories priceless for the team.
India captain Rohit Sharma has described the country’s twin Test series victories in Australia — in 2018-19 and 2020-21 — as being “like gold” for the national team, stating that both triumphs gave Indian Test cricket a massive lift.
Rohit, who was part of both tours, shared his thoughts during a conversation with former Australian skipper Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket podcast.
“But look, winning the Test series in Australia twice was like gold for us, the way we played and how everyone took that responsibility, because the first one in 2018 had its challenge, and the 2021 series in COVID times had its challenge,” Rohit said.
He credited the team’s resilience during the second series, which took place in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the depleted squad and the rise of newcomers who helped script the remarkable win.
“You know, we were short of a lot of players, a lot of players went back home, a lot of injuries. So a lot of new players who haven’t played a lot of first-class cricket as well managed to pull things around for us,” he added.
India made history in 2018-19 by winning their first-ever Test series in Australia under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. The team repeated the feat in the 2020-21 tour, this time under Ajinkya Rahane’s leadership, just eight months after the outbreak of the global pandemic.
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While Rohit contributed 106 runs in two matches at an average of 35.33 in the 2018-19 series, he followed up with 129 runs in two matches at an average of 32.55 in 2020-21. He hit one half-century in each series.
Speaking about the pressure of winning trophies, Rohit said that despite success in bilateral series, the focus from fans has always remained on ICC tournaments, especially as India had gone without a global title for more than a decade until the T20 World Cup win last year.
“It’s not about OK if you win a tournament, if you win a bilateral series, what happens next? People remember that you have not won a single ICC trophy since I think 13 or 14 years,” he said.
“2013 was when we won the Champions Trophy, and then 2011, 11 years ago. And I remind you every day. Yeah, absolutely that we need to win trophies. Now, enough of all this bilateral series,” Rohit concluded.
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