After India lost the ODI series 2-1 to New Zealand, Shubmann Gill was questioned by Simon Doull about Rohit Sharma, as he said, “I just wonder, that 27 World Cup in South Africa, is that too far away? Does he have that real hunger?” Basically, Shubman Gill kept his calm, answered the question, backed his former captain, and also highlighted his form. Surely, one bad series and everyone will raise the same question, which seems a bit illogical.
When you look at the form of Rohit Sharma, it was surely not upto the standards of what Rohit is. He has had great starts in the series, but was not able to create his starts into a fifty or a hundred in this series. When we look at Rohit Sharma’s stats in the three-match series against New Zealand, he scored just 61 runs and had an average of 20.33. In the final ODI, Rohit could only score 11 runs as he was dismissed by Zakary Foulkes.
Also check out: ICC Men’s ODI Batting rankings: Virat Kohli back at number one, Rohit drops to 3
Shubmann Gill was questioned by Simon Doull about Rohit Sharma, as he said, “I just wonder, that 27 World Cup in South Africa, is that too far away? Does he have that real hunger?”
It was obvious that with Rohit Sharma having a bad form in the series, there would be a lot of questions regarding his poor form, but with a personality like Simon Doull, calling his hunger over for the 2027 World Cup is surely not what is expected from someone like Simon. Most probably, Simon would not have seen what Rohit Sharma did in the Australia and South Africa series, it seems. It’s fair that a player can have a bad run of games, and doubting his hunger for the Indian seems illogical. This is what he had to say.
I feel with Rohit, he’s always had something to chase, a goal in mind, whether it be a T20 World Cup or a 50-over World Cup. I just wonder, that 2027 World Cup in South Africa, is that too far away? Does he have that real hunger? Maybe it’s just different every year, isn’t it? Because we’re building up. We seem to be building up as national sides, no matter who you are. Each year, you’re building up to a different format of an ICC event, aren’t you?
Just to remind everyone who has doubted Rohit Sharma, he was the captain and the player who played a major role for the Indian team in the last three ICC events. From the ICC 2023 World Cup to ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, and lastly to ICC Champions Trophy 2025, India has just lost one match in the ICC events, and it was the final of the ICC 2023 World Cup. Rohit was the most important part of the puzzle in batting for the giving team, great starts, and surely we do not need to speak on his captaincy record, which is surely the most impressive.
Gill in his press conference – I think Rohit Sharma is in terrific form, even right through from the Australia series, even in the South Africa series. I think, as I said, you won’t always be able to convert the starts that you get. And I think Rohit got some starts in this New Zealand series as well. As a batsman, you always want to convert those starts and always want to make it count and make it into hundreds. But it’s not possible to do it every time. But at the same time, that’s something that you always strive to do
Gill, just like always, backed Rohit Sharma and spoke about his great form. He went back and talked about Rohit’s form in the previous series where he looked sharp and also scored centuries and fifties. Gill also mentioned that as a batter, you always want to convert starts into big scores, but it is not possible every time. He was also struggling, but Gill had his form back as he scored two fifties in this series.