Rohit Sharma talks about school runs, Jemimah Rodrigues speaks of her current favourite song to sing | Cricket News
Rohit Sharma, speaking at the BCCI awards, offered a peek into his life as a dad, describing how he enjoys dropping off his daughter Samaira to school and tries to relieve his wife off at least some of her child-rearing chores.
Chatting with Smriti Mandhana on the stage at the black tie & dress event, Sharma told the Indian vice captain, about his routine when at home. “We play cricket in the house. Just for fun. Nothing serious. She comes back from school late and has some classes. Just before sleeping, we play some cricket. She likes batting just like anyone else that starts playing cricket,” he said.
It was nothing serious, Sharma reiterated, about a typical day at home. “Just taking her to classes. Football classes. Gymnastics. That’s all she does. We like to go to her grandparents’ house and spend time there. Because we’ve got a big garden there. She hangs out with her building friends. Pretty simple. Nothing extravagant,” he explained.
Story continues below this ad
When quizzed on his love for safaris, Sharma said, “Yes I love safaris. As a team too we’ve been to so many South Africa tours. Luckily we had the opportunity to go to some of these wildlife reserves which have super animals to watch. We had some scary experiences as well. But at the same time we had lot of fun. Went with family as well. It’s nice to see them (animals, not humans) in their own space, instead of visiting them in zoos. When they are in the wild they are being themselves. They know this is their house. They can do what they want,” he said.
💬💬 One of the biggest positives is Women’s cricket growing higher and higher especially with #TATAWPL coming up 👏👏@JemiRodrigues shares her excitement on the rise of women’s cricket with @ImRo45 👌👌#NamanAwards pic.twitter.com/woiEY7d06f
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 1, 2025
When Mandhana ribbed him about getting teased and his hobbies, he said, “My teammates they tease me about forgetting. It’s not a hob obviously! Since you spoke about teasing. I forget my wallet. (That) I forget my passport – which is absolutely not true. That happened couple of decades back,” he said. Clearly a one-off incident gets mined for lifelong teasing.
Mandhana would also ask him about his love for street-food, something that’s common to Mumbaikars of all origins. “I always miss street food. But now since we spend so much time away from home, I miss home food more than street food. Being a Mumbaikar you can’t not eat street food. Every now and then when I have friends over, we try and take a walk down the road and have sev Puri, bhel Puri and Pani puri.”
On fatherhood in general, Sharma said, “It’s serene to take daughter to classes. Because it takes my mind away from What I actually do. Now we have two kids, need to relieve wife from some duties. I enjoy doing that.”
Jemi’s song: Tainu sang rakhaa
Later, Sharma would take over the mix and quiz India international Jemimah Rodrigues on her famous hob – she plays the guitar. Story continues below this ad
Jemi would be thrilled to speak about it. “Firstly just to know you have seen my guitar videos means the world to me,” she told Sharma. “I really look up to you and your batting. So I hope it was a good video. I remember the first song because in church they had a choir and they needed a guitar. ‘How great is our god” is the first song I learnt on guitar,” she would say.
Jemi would then proceed to croon a few lines of her current favourite the Punjabi folkish, ‘Tainu sang rakhnaa’. “One song special to my heart. I think my parents would sing this to me. Tainu Sang rakhnaa…”
She also expressed optimisation sm for women’s cricket. “One of the biggest positives is women’s cricket going higher and higher. Can’t wait to see heights it reaches,” Jemimah said.
