Rohit Sharma’s disappointment was evident as he walked up to address the media on Saturday evening, shortly after suffering a rare home Test series defeat against New Zealand.
But the Indian captain remained calm, took things in his stride and made it clear that he would not ‘overreact’ just because the team has lost two consecutive Tests against New Zealand over a week after maintaining an unbeaten run at home for the last 12 years.
Back in 2012, when India lost a home series against England, Gautam Gambhir - the current head coach of the team - was still an active cricketer, whereas Rohit and Virat Kohli were in the early days of their careers. Since then, the team went through a transition phase, with the then-seniors making way for the youngsters, who eventually took leadership roles.
Having gone through the ranks, Rohit understands the importance of motivating the young players when the chips are down. By his admission, ahead of India’s crucial tour of Australia, the India captain wants to have a ‘quiet chat’ with the youngsters, put a hand around their shoulder and ensure that the home series defeat against New Zealand doesn’t affect their morale.
“I am certainly not going to overreact to what has happened here. You need to have a quiet chat with certain individuals and let them know where they are at and what, as a team, we require from them,” Rohit said.
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“Other than that, I don’t think you need to make them sit in a team room on a one-on-one basis and go through their innings and tell them ‘this is what you should be doing and this is what you shouldn’t be doing.’ I don’t think this is the right forum to do that,” he added.
With a berth in the World Test Championship final at stake, India cannot afford to lose any of its remaining six Test matches. Keeping that in mind, it will be important to travel to Australia with a positive mindset.
“When we were in the place of having played only five or six Test matches, all we wanted was the support from the team, the captain, the coach and the management. And that is what I am going to try and do with a lot of these guys who haven’t been to Australia or are playing their first or second Test matches,” Rohit said.
So, how does he plan to go about it?
“Clear messages, keeping them nice and calm, making them feel that they belong here - those are the things that they need to understand, and that is our responsibility,” the captain said.
With quite a few young players around, they need to adapt to the ‘winning ideology’ and Rohit believes that regular, honest conversations are the best way to get it done.
“We talk about the stuff that we are required to go and do in the game. So, in terms of messaging, I don’t think there are any unclear messages about what they are supposed to do. They have come here because they are good at something. And that is what we want to rely on.
“Because they are good at something, we want to focus more on that part rather than not knowing or not understanding what they don’t do or they can’t do. A lot of us have played a lot of cricket on our strengths, not weaknesses.
So, weaknesses are there, but it is there for you to improve on, work on,” the captain added.
Having played at the highest level for more than a decade, Rohit understands that the ultimate target for a player should be to rely on one’s strength and play accordingly. “When you want to play 10-15 years of international cricket, you work more on your strength, rather than your weakness. You keep building on your strength more and more and that allows you to have more success than failure,” Rohit said, adding: “Weaknesses are important to address, but I believe it should be a ratio of 70:30 or 60:40…”
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