Test cricket is the ultimate challenge: India captain Rohit Sharma ahead of Cape Town Test vs SA
Test cricket is the ultimate challenge, says India captain Rohit Sharma
Ever since South Africa announced a second-stringed side for their upcoming two away Tests versus New Zealand, amid SA20's second season, there has been a lot of talk on Test cricket's downfall. The likes of Steve Waugh, Usman Khawaja, Michael Clarke, Australia captain Pat Cummins have spoken at length on Test cricket and how it is being least preferred by many cricket board owing to franchise cricket's popularity.
Ahead of India's second and final Test versus South Africa, at Newlands, Cape Town, Indian captain Rohit Sharma reacted to SA's second-stringed squad and stressed on the importance of the longer format. Hitman feels 'Test cricket is the ultimate challenge' and needs to be protected' at all costs.
Speaking to the reporters, Rohit said on Tuesday (Jan 2), "Honestly, for me Test cricket is the ultimate challenge and you would want to see the best players playing in that format. Everyone has their own problems to deal with. I am pretty sure there is a reason behind it I don't know what the reason is. Definitely, Test cricket is something where you want to see the best cricket being played, best and top players being available."
“I don't know what the internal talks or what the discussions are in Cricket South Africa. But in my perspective a lot of thought should be given to Test cricket because it is the ultimate challenge you face in this sport and we want to be challenged every day,” Rohit further opined.
Also read:SA vs Ind, 2nd Test: Rohit Sharma aims to equal MS Dhoni’s rare captaincy feat in series decider
Rohit stressed on the need to collectively protect the format. He stated, "Test cricket is something that we have to protect and give importance to. It's not the responsibility of one or two nations, it is the responsibility of all Test playing countries to make sure that we keep it nice and entertaining."
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"If you see around the world, a lot of solid Test cricket is being played. In the last 2-3 years, you've seen results everywhere. It's competitive cricket, we know that and it's everyone's duty to make sure that it stays nice and healthy, and it stays competitive. At the end of the day, that is what people would want to come and watch,” Hitman added.
Talking about India's second and final Test versus the Proteas, they need to stage a comeback and end the series on a high after losing the opening match by an innings and 32 runs in Centurion. So far, India have avoided a Test series loss only once in the African nation, out of the nine series since 1992, when MS Dhoni & Co. returned with a 1-1 scoreline in 2010/11. Rohit-led India will look to emulate that rare feat in the series finale.
India's likely XI for Cape Town Test vs SA
Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Abhimanyu Easwaran, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan.