‘What kind of a question is that?’: Rohit Sharma irked when asked about his poor form ahead of England series

Posted by author February 5, 2025 Cricket

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India captain Rohit Sharma was not amused at all when asked whether his barren run of form would come to an end with the return of the ODIs, a format which gave him the moniker ‘Hitman’. Rohit, now retired from T20Is, has been horribly out of form in Test cricket. Since the England series at home, which saw him finish as India’s second-highest run-getter behind Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit has just managed to score one fifty in 15 attempts. He has been dismissed in single-digit scores as many as 10 times during this period.

India captain Rohit Sharma addresses the press before the 1st ODI against England

When talks about his retirement were on the rise during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit did a first. He became the first Indian captain to drop himself from the playing XI despite being fully fit and available for selection for the final Test against Australia in Sydney. Rohit scored just 31 runs in the series.

But with the Champions Trophy coming up, Rohit and another star of the team, Virat Kohli, return to the scheme of things. Both Rohit and Kohli have ruled this format for more than a decade now. Ahead of the three-match ODI series against England before the Champions Trophy, Rohit was asked whether a return to white-ball cricket would make him feel at ease after a torrid time in test cricket.

“Are you Confident going out to bat in the format which gave you the nickname Hitman, despite not too many runs in the Test format?” a reporter asked in the pre-match conference before the first ODI in Nagpur.

“What kind of a question is that?” Rohit replied after a pause. “This is a different format, different time. As usual, as cricketers, we know there will be ups and downs. I have faced that a lot in my career. This is nothing new to me. We know that every day is fresh, and every series is a new one. I am looking forward to the challenge. Not looking at the past. Clearly, you don’t. So I dion’t have any reasons to look the past, a lot of good things have happened. Important that I focus on what lies ahead of me. I would look to start the series on a high and let’s see what happens,” he added.

Rohit averaged less than 25 with the bat in 14 Tests in 2024 — his lowest-ever average for a calendar year.

That was not the only time Rohit appeared to lose his cool during Wednesday’s press conference. Towards the end, another reporter asked whether the reports about the BCCI asking for clarity about his future after the Champions Trophy were true.

“How is this relevant that I talk about my future plans sitting here where there are three ODIs and a Champions Trophy coming in?” Rohit said, in reply. “The reports are going on for a number of years but I am not here to clarify those reports. My focus is on these games, we will see what happens afterwards.”