"Got 5 hundreds in WC but..." - Rohit Sharma trolls himself and states 'numbers are overrated'

Team India captain Rohit Sharma has opened up about what it is like to be the captain of the national team and called it a privilege to be included alongside some legends of the game. While speaking to Dinesh Karthik on Jio cinema, Rohit opened up about quite a lot of things which also included the subject of his centuries in the 2019 Cricket World Cup going in vain.

He is currently leading the team in the ongoing 5-match Test series against England which started today at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Rohit Sharma’s side had to bowl first after losing the toss and were able to get the visitors all out for 246 thanks to Ashwin-Jadeja’s 3 wickets each and Bumrah and Axar Patel’s brace of wickets.

In response, India are currently trailing by 127 runs thanks to a start from Yashasvi Jaiswal who is currently on the crease for a quickfire 76 off 70 balls. While trying to match his intensity, Rohit Sharma got out after playing a down-the-track lofted shot between the mid-on and mid-off.

Rohit struck the ball pretty high up in the air off a ball from Jack Leach with Ben Stokes completing a simple catch. The 36-year-old departed after scoring 24 off 27 which included 4 boundaries as well. Although he would have been unhappy with his performance, he will be glad to see Jaiswal doing the job for the team.

And it was exactly the subject he spoke about while speaking to Dinesh Karthik in the build-up to the 1st Hyderabad Test. Rohit Sharma explained that he doesn’t like to judge players on the basis of statistics and that he likes to back players that put the needs of the team ahead of their own individual milestones.

He also spoke about captaincy and how it has panned out for him until now, stating that he was pretty excited when the opportunity first came to him.

“It is quite draining, but that is what you sign up for. When you take the responsibility, I think when the opportunity came to me to lead the team, I was excited. In the last 7-8 years, I’ve been part of that core group decision-making, vice-captain. I led in Virat’s absence a few times when he was not there, but yeah, obviously it’s a huge honour to be captaining your country,” Rohit said.

“I Want To Completely Take Stats Out Of This Team”, Rohit Sharma Opines

One of the main highlights of his captaincy has been the fact that Rohit Sharma has always backed his players even through tough times. And it is something he thinks should be the case going forward and he has tried to ease pressure on the players by not focusing on the statistical side of the game, claiming that trophies are more important.

“I wanted to bring a certain change. Players going out there and playing with a lot of freedom, that statistical side of cricket. I want to completely take it out of this team. People are not looking at numbers. People are not looking at their personal scores and just play the game. Numbers are overrated. In India, we do talk a lot about numbers and all of that. But like, yeah, I got five hundreds in 2019 World Cup but kya hua uska, haar gaye na (but what happened, we still lost)?,” Rohit Sharma concluded.