‘I am not going anywhere’: Full Text of Rohit Sharma’s interview on ‘standing down’ for Sydney Test and denying retirement rumours | Cricket News

During the lunch break of the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit Sharma spoke to the broadcasters Star Sports, opening up on his decision to ‘stand down’ from the series finale. Rohit declared he won’t be retiring from Tests and will continue to be a part of the larger scheme of things.None of the three things. I stood down. This is what I say. Stand down. I will say a few words, fifty words will be made out of it. So basically, runs are not coming from my bat, I am not in form, it is an important match, we need players in form, the boys in our batting are not in form, so you cannot carry too many out-of-form players in the team.
It was difficult for me to take this decision but if everything is put in front of us, then this decision was sensible, and I will not think too much ahead. What the team needed at this time, this was the only thought, and there was no other thought apart from that.
So basically, the chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple. I am not scoring runs. I am not in form, it’s an important match, we need players with form. Our batting doesn’t have the form of the boys.
So you can’t carry out-of-form players in the team. This simple thing was running in my mind. So that’s why I wanted to tell the coach and the selector that this is what’s going on inside me.
They backed my decision. They said, you’ve been playing for so many years, you know what you’re doing and what you’re not doing. It was difficult for me to take this decision.
But if everything was put in front of me, then this decision was sensible. And I won’t think too much about the future. What the team needed at this time was just this thought. There was no other thought.
Whether he decided this one day before the match or after Melbourne
No, no. I took this decision after coming here. Because after the match, we only had two days in between. And one day was New Year’s. So on New Year’s, I didn’t want to tell this to the selectors and the coach. But it was running in my mind that I was trying, but it’s not happening. So I have to accept that it’s not happening. And it was important for me to step aside.
When I arrived in Perth, it was quite evident why we won that game. There were two reasons. Obviously, we got bowled out for 150 and then we eventually got them bowled out for 100. We had a 50-run lead. And then, the game could have gone anywhere in the second innings. The partnership of 200 runs in the second innings, I think that was the game-changer. That is why we won the game.
We know that there is help for the bowlers in the pitches. The bowlers will definitely work. But there is a challenge for the batsmen.
India’s captain Rohit Sharma, center, and his batting partner KL Rahul leaves the field as rain stops play during play on day three of the third cricket test between India and Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, Australia. (AP)
But KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal handled that challenge very well. And they brought the team in such a position that we could not have lost the match. So, all these things were in my mind. So, if those things are in my mind, then there is no need to tease me.
And one more thing that I will say, whenever I am captaining, what is going to happen after five months, what is going to happen after 6 months, I don’t believe in that. Because, what do you want now? What do you want in the immediate future? It is important to focus on this. Our entire focus was on these 5 matches. We had to retain, we had to win. We had to do everything.
So, all these decisions are taken while keeping the team in front.
On his future
See, like I said, this decision is not a retirement decision. Nor am I going to leave the game. There is no such decision. But, I am out of this game because the bat is not working.
There is no guarantee that the bat will not work after 5 months. There is no guarantee that the bat will not work after 2 months. We have seen a lot in cricket.
Every minute, every second, every day life changes. So, I believe that things will change. But, at the same time, I have to be realic as well.
So, if a person has a mic inside, or a laptop, or a pen, what he writes, what he says, that does not change our life. We have played this game for so many years. So, these people cannot decide when we should go, or when we should not play. Or, when we should sit outside, or when we should not captain. I am a sensible man, I am a mature man, I am a father of two children. So, I have a little idea of what I want in life.
On the dressing room ‘leak’
All the boys here are made of steel. And this is what we have tried to make the boys like this. Because we cannot control that. The things that we cannot control, paying attention to them, or wasting more time on it, nothing is going to happen. So, all the boys know that such things happen outside, let it happen, what can we do?
You play your game, take care of how you are winning the match, how you want to improve your game, this is all we can focus on.
On putting the team first
It is very, very tough. I have come from so far, I have not come to sit outside.
I have not come to play a match. I have to play the match, and I have to make the team win. When I came to the dressing room on the first day, in 2007, from then till now, I have been saying that I have to win the match, I have to make the team win the match. But sometimes you have to understand what the team needs. If you don’t put the team ahead, then there is no use. You will play for yourself, you will make your runs, you will go and sit, you will play, what will that do? If you don’t think about the team, you don’t want those kinds of players.
Only team and team. Why do we call it a team? Because 11 people are playing, not just one or two. 11 people are playing, so it is a team.
Try to do what the cost of the team is.
On this honesty becoming a benchmark for the team
No, no, I can’t say anything about others. This is my thinking. That is how I have played my cricket. That’s how I am in life in general. Outside of cricket also.
It’s not like I am trying to show something else. What I am, that is visible. If no one likes it, then forgive me. Sit down. I do what I think I should do. I don’t do what I don’t think I should do.
On Jasprit Bumrah
Of course, he has a lot of game ideas. The way he sets an example of his bowling for others, that is class. He has class. He understands the game. He always keeps the team ahead.
I have been watching him for the last 11 years. I saw him for the first time in 2013. His graph has also gone up. He has evolved a lot in himself. With his game, with his thinking. The way he is bowling, the whole world is watching. But yes, he has gone strength to strength.
On the best captain for India going forward
It is difficult to say. It is very difficult to say. There are many boys. But I want them to understand the importance of cricket first. Understand the importance of this place.
They are new boys. I know they should be given responsibility. But let them earn it.
Let them play some hard-fought cricket for the next few years or whatever it is. Let them earn it.
I am here now. Bumrah is here. Virat was here before him. MS Dhoni was here before him. Everyone has earned it. No one has got it on a plate. No one should get it like this. Let them work hard. There is a lot of talent in the boys. But at the same time, I also want to say that it is not easy to become the captain of India. There is pressure. But it is a great honour. Our hory and the way we play cricket has a great responsibility on both shoulders. So let them earn it.
On captaincy
What happens in leadership is that you will not have good days every day. You have to accept that. And suddenly, what you were doing well in three months does not go bad after three months. Your ideas and mindset are the same.
The same mindset, same ideology, same thought process, same messaging that I was doing when I was a captain goes in. But sometimes, when the result does not come, you think, what is he doing? This is useless. This is this.
This is that. I know that we live in India. 140 crore people will judge us. No problem. That is what it is. But I don’t want to change my ideology about captaincy.
I am sure that the level at which you play, so many people are watching, so many people are judging. They will say. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to doubt myself.
I know that what I am doing is right. It can be wrong too. Yesterday, I took a decision that I should have batted at this stage. But actually, I should have bowled. It can be wrong. But that doesn’t mean that your thinking is bad.
On playing in Australia
We don’t want to go there and lose the match. We don’t do what we should do. We do something else and defeat the team.
Who thinks like this? Everyone wants to go there, win the match. And look at the crowd’s involvement here. We have to shut their mouths. And which team won the series twice here, you tell me? It was a golden opportunity for us. We can’t win the series, but we can draw. We don’t want to let them win. We can do this. If we get positive results after coming here three times, then nothing like it.
I am not going anywhere.

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