Rohit Sharma makes surprise appearance in Mumbai dressing room during Ranji final

India captain Rohit Sharma turned up at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (12th March) to see the final of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2023-24. The summit clash of the elite competition is taking place between Mumbai and Vidarbha. 

Rohit Sharma, who recently captained Team India in the England series, walked the talk of the importance of the Ranji Trophy. He made sure that he didn’t opt for rest and instead came to attend the Ranji Trophy final, encouraging players of both teams. 

Of late, Indian captain Rohit Sharma along with team management and the BCCI have been putting in hard yards to prioritise the red-ball format. BCCI secretary Jay Shah recently introduced the incentive scheme so that players keep red-ball cricket ahead of the T20 leagues and white-ball cricket. 

Rohit Sharma was seen sitting in Mumbai’s dressing room and enjoying the game. Pacer Dhawal Kulkarni was alongside him and the India captain was taking notes of the game. The picture of him watching the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 final between Mumbai and Vidarbha surfaced on the internet in minutes. 

Here’s the picture: 

Indian Captain Rohit Sharma watching the Ranji Trophy final at Wankhede.

– Rohit walking the talk, showing the importance of Ranji Trophy by supporting the team. pic.twitter.com/Bu05IwR7IA

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 12, 2024

Coming to the final of the Ranji Trophy, Mumbai have taken command of the game and are looking favorites to win the title. They were asked to bat first and didn’t have a great outing with the bat as they got bundled out for just 224 runs. Even this wasn’t possible at one stage but Shardul Thakur (75) stood tall for the team. 

With the ball, Mumbai was exceptional as they ended Vidarbha’s innings on just 105 runs, taking a lead of over 100 runs. They have now brought their best with the bat in the second innings. After a shaky start, they are bossing the game and have taken the lead of over 470 runs in the final. 

Musheer Khan has slammed a blistering century whereas Shreyas Iyer (95) and Ajinkya Rahane (73) made handy contributions for the team in the big game.

We will give opportunities to only those who are hungry – Rohit Sharma’ 

The importance of domestic cricket in Indian cricket got hype after the recent developments around Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Both the players didn’t play in the Ranji Trophy after the request from team management. This made BCCI terminate their national contract. 

Rohit Sharma also clearly mentioned that they will be giving opportunities to only those players who have the hunger to play Test cricket. He highlighted that there’s no point in picking those players who don’t have hunger. Speaking after the 4th Test against England, he stated: 

“Jin logon ko bhookh hai, hum unhi logon ko mauka denge (We will give opportunities to only those who are hungry). Agar hunger nahi hai to unko khila ke koi matlab nahi hai (There’s no point in playing those who don’t have the hunger).”

The BCCI has clearly told all the players that if they aren’t busy with the national assignments, they should play in the domestic cricket for their state teams