The start of a new home season is just round the corner. And as always, there will be a billion expectations from team India as they take on mighty South Africa over the duration of next ten weeks. One man will be free from this burden, for of late he has only known scrutiny, perhaps unlike any other Indian cricketer before him. Being Rohit Sharma cannot be easy, when your every move on the field is talked about incessantly. In a Cricbuzz exclusive, he talks about dealing with such pressure and playing for his team, perhaps more than for himself.
Q: Rohit, you have stated a few times recently that you are a positive person. So let's start from that aspect. How do you maintain this positivity around you?
Rohit: In India, cricket is a very passionate sport and as a cricketer, it is always important to have a positive mindset. A lot of things are always going around us, whether it is on the field or off it. Any doubt in your mind can create problems, so you have to stay confident in what you are doing and be positive at all times. Because I have realized one thing, being negative isn't going to help me in any way. The more you play with positive intent, the better your results will be. And it is important to shut yourself off when you are away from the cricket field because criticism all the time isn't going to help. As such, I try to stay positive around my family and friends, and they do the same for me.
Q: So what do you do to switch off from cricket, from all the constant chatter that surrounds you? Do you meditate?
Rohit: No, nothing of that sort. I do some yoga, but that is basically to keep myself fit. There is a lot of other stuff otherwise to help take your mind off. I watch television, play FIFA (video game), and read books.
Q: What kind of books? Any particular genre that you are interested in?
Rohit: I like reading biographies. I like reading about people who have been laid low in life but they have remained positive in their outlook, and then they have risen to the top. That is the stuff I am always eager to read, about businessmen and politicians, who have fought their way up after hitting rock bottom. I have read up on Nelson Mandela, and I have also read biographies of Ricky Ponting and Roger Federer.
Q: And then, going on to the cricket field, how do you switch on? How does positivity reflect in your game then?
Rohit: Patience is key in cricket, I think. But it is important to be positive in your approach as well, and strike a balance. Basically while I am on the field, whatever I am doing, I try to involve that approach. Obviously, it is reflected more when I am batting, because that's when the mental side takes over most. You prepare to face a bowler in a particular way, but when you step up on the field, you let your instincts take over. That is how I have modeled my brain. If the ball is there to be hit, irrespective of the situation, I will hit it. That is positivity for me, and I think it reflects in my batting.
Q: Okay, but your shot making has sometimes come under criticism. For example, you have got out in Tests on a couple occasions right before a break. I won't call it throwing your wicket away, because you don't agree with it. But it does undo your innings, the way you have played until then, doesn't it? You could score 150-odd but you end up with only a half-century, say in the second Test in Sri Lanka.
Rohit: Yes, you can say that. I was disappointed to miss my hundred in that second Test. If I could have batted longer, maybe we could have scored 500-plus in that innings and wouldn't have needed to bat a second time. So, yes that disappointment is there but I don't want to be too harsh on myself.
Yes I missed that chance, I know it, but I don't want to keep reminding myself of it, and I don't want other to keep reminding me either. I don't want to mull over it, again and again, because it will only heap pressure on me. Because when I play, I am always looking forward and not looking back. There is no point looking back because you cannot change anything. So why waste energy thing about it? Instead, I feel that I should use my energy to achieve what I can.
Q: To what extent do you criticize yourself then, and at what juncture? What has to go wrong for you to criticize yourself?
Rohit: I really don't want to be too hard on myself. There are so many others out there who are hard on me (laughs). See, I know there is a greater height I need to achieve. But at the same time, one also needs to remember that it cannot happen every time you go out to bat. It is humanly impossible to achieve such success. There will be lows when you step on the field, but you have to deal with it mentally. As a cricketer you obviously want to do well and perform well. But I have accepted that it cannot happen every day.
Instead, I believe, that when you have that one chance to really shine for your team, when you are in the spotlight, then you should grab that opportunity. And when I miss such an opportunity that is when I get upset. If I have a chance to help take the side to victory, to drive home a position of advantage, and I don't do it that is when I get upset. Like in that second Test in Sri Lanka you mentioned. But I don't get upset when I get out on the first few balls, because that will happen from time to time.
Q: And what about criticism from the outside, from the media, from the fans, from social media, does that ever affect you?
Rohit: Can I be honest here? No, it doesn't. Probably that is how I was born. This is my natural self. And again honestly, even if you do pay attention to it, you cannot allow yourself to be affected by it because there is so much criticism from every quarter. I do want to improve as a cricketer, but cannot do so by concentrating on such external things. I cannot stop people from talking, and they have every right to talk about me since I am a national cricketer. But there is so much happening in my life, and I am also getting married soon enough... I have no time whatsoever to pay any attention to what is being said about me, or TV, or in print, or anywhere else.
Q: Before going on, how has life changed since you got engaged?
Rohit: Well I have an extra supporter in my life now, and whatever I do, that's not going to change (laughs). That's one thing I am really happy about. There are little changes to my personal life, yes. There is a sense of continuity and security. But I think the major changes will come once I am married.
Q: Moving on then, criticism aside, where does the learning come? Talk us about this overseas journey for India from both your personal and team's point of view.
Rohit: I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked to. I don't have complaints as such, because I have accepted it and moved forward. But I would have liked to play more Test cricket in England as I only played one Test there. Then again, I would have loved to score a couple hundreds in the Tests before that, in South Africa and New Zealand. There is no doubt in my mind that I didn't bat well there, not as well as I could have. Yet it was a great experience. I see that as a positive, to be able to learn and to move on from those failures, to be able to achieve something ahead.
But yes, it was very tough not to be part of the playing eleven at times. I used that time to get better as a player. I didn't let it go waste and I worked in the nets on a lot of things in my individual game. From a team point of view, well, it was a great learning curve for all of us. Most of us were young and inexperienced at that early stage of our careers. None of us had played more than 5-10 Tests at that time. So we travelled together and learnt together. Those are tough tours and they helped us learn how Test cricket is played, how you become Test cricketers. I think we came out of it as a very good Test side, as seen from our victory in Sri Lanka. I also think that the learning curve is over now and it is time for us to execute whatever we have learnt.
Q: Does it hurt that the Test cap came to you very late? Quite a few players made their international debuts after you, but moved ahead in the pecking order especially in Tests?
Rohit: Yes I was very disappointed. But on a personal note, what can you do? Selection isn't in my hands. So I told myself I cannot look back or get disappointed. I have to keep moving forward. I got unlucky with injuries so I concentrated on my rehab and got back to the national team after a gap of three years. I am trying to make up for lost time ever since. As you rightly said, the Test cap came very late. It is never easy to get it and it is a special moment when you do get it. So I am trying my best to perform. I am really happy with where I am right now, really happy with my batting and I am in a good state of mind. Of course I know there is room for improvement and I am not perfect. So I will keep working hard. I am looking to the South Africa series and I am very excited.
Q: South Africa will be a huge challenge, even in Indian conditions. What are the challenges for the home team?
Rohit: They are a good batting side, and even better bowling side. They are very organized and you cannot point to one single player as a weakness in their squad. We will have to tick off a lot of boxes to do well against them. And there is always a lot of pressure on Indian cricketers, irrespective of where they are playing. There is a lot of expectation. So it will be the same for us and will be a huge challenge for a young side. Because as a bunch of players, together as a young team, we haven't played a lot of cricket in home conditions either. Maybe we have played ODIs or T20s, but as a Test team, this young team hasn't played a lot at home. So that is something new for us again. Our overseas experiences will help us in this surely.
Q: In a press conference in Sri Lanka, when I had asked your batting order preference, you had said higher up. Where do you expect to bat during the South Africa Tests?
Rohit: Every batsman wants to do that, but the captain and the team management might have different ideas. To them it is about what options they have for each batting order. Right now, for us Indian players, it is about those demands. And we can all bat at two, three, four. Everyone can bat at different positions and in different situations. There isn't any consistency in the batting order but we still did well in Sri Lanka. That is more important. And I don't know about other batsmen, but I can surely continue in the same fashion. I would like to bat higher up, but if the team demands me to be able to bat at two, three or four, even lower, I should be able to do that. That's what I prefer.
Q: And indeed you have batted all over the order in the last nine months or so, starting from opening in ODIs, to number three to five in Tests. What changes do you make to your batting in preparation of this? Or is it about mindset?
Rohit: I think Tests and ODIs are similar nowadays in terms of patience during batting. In ODIs, you know you can attack more but you have to be patient to be able to get those big hundreds. That really helps your confidence. Test cricket is more about situations. So you cannot really prepare for it. That's where attitude and mindset helps you more. You could be facing the new ball on a green top, or the second new ball on a slow wicket, or you could be batting in tough conditions when the ball is 50 overs old.
Sometimes you have to be more careful, sometimes you want to attack more and get on top of bowlers. The batting position hardly matters in such scenarios. In Sri Lanka, I walked in at number four at Galle. The score was 7/3 and we were still facing the new ball but on a wicket turning square. So it is about where the game is going, what is the current situation and who is their best bowler, who is their weak link. You figure out these things in the middle and you cannot prepare for them.
