More than two years after a defining moment in India’s 2023 Test against Australia, Rohit Sharma finally spoke about the incident that had stirred a lot of discussion. Cameras captured the Indian captain visibly agitated in the dressing room, appearing frustrated by the slow progress of Cheteshwar Pujara and Axar Patel’s partnership. Rohit was seen giving Ishan Kishan instructions, who delivered a message to the batters during a break.
What followed took everyone by surprise. Pujara hit Lyon for a six.
“We wanted to upset Nathan Lyon’s rhythm and score quick runs. At one point, we even thought about declaring, but we realized about the need to carry on. Nathan Lyon opines kept the mid-on up, and I thought to myself, ‘He’s not quite good enough to have mid-on up.’ While the pitch was spinning, we needed to accelerate,” Rohit Sharma said.
At the launch event of The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife, written by Pujara’s wife Puja, Rohit shared the story. He acknowledged that batters tend to ignore messages.
“It’s one thing to deliver a message, but what really matters is how the batters respond. When someone walks out with a message, the batters know exactly what it’s about,” he added.
The match was a low-affair, with Australia registering a win by 9 wickets. Pujara top-scored for India with a patient 59 off 142 balls, helping set Australia a modest target of 76 runs. Earlier, India were bowled out for 109 in their first innings, while Australia managed 197 runs.
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V M Suriya Narayanan is a passionate cricket writer who has been following the game since 2007. With a background in Civil Engineering (B.E.), he blends analytical thinking with a deep understanding of…
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