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Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said on Wednesday that he enjoyed playing and working with youngsters during the recently-concluded five-match Test series against England and opened up on some of the most notable debuts and moments of the series.
India recently won the Test series against England 4-1. The series saw youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep, Devdutt Padikkal perform well. Except Jaiswal, it was a debut series for the other young players. Talking about the series against England in a video shared by his media team on Instagram, skipper Rohit said, "Five-match series is always tough. A lot of challenges through those one-and-a-half months you have to go through. It was a different experience playing that series against an opposition like England, we knew it was never going to be easy. We had to be at our best. Towards the end, we were at our best to come out on top on four occasions. I am pleased with the way we played the series," Rohit said. "I loved to playing with all the youngsters, they are very naughty but they are very talented. I have seen them all, except one or two players. I know their game, strengths and weaknesses. For me, it was going to them and talking to them about all good things they have done so far. I and Rahul (Dravid) spoke to them and they responded so well. We thought they were ready for the big challenge. I enjoyed these players making their debuts. Their parents were around, there was so much emotion." Speaking on Sarfaraz Khan's much-anticipated debut in the third Test at Ranchi following years of domestic cricket heroics, Rohit recalled playing with his father Naushad when he was young and said that the Test cap belongs to Naushad as much as it belongs to Sarfaraz. "I have played with Sarfaraz Khan's father in the Kanga league when I was very young, he was a popular name at that time, a left-handed batter. His efforts have borne fruit and I want to congratulate him that his inputs of all these years on Sarfaraz have brought him here, the cap is as his as much as it is of Sarfaraz." On spin veteran Ravichandran Ashwin, who ended the series with the most wickets (26) after struggling in the first half of the series, the skipper called Ashwin a match-winner for India and lauded him for delivering in the middle of all scrutiny and pressure. "His career speaks for himself, the amount of Man of the Match, Man of the Series awards he has won. He is a match-winner for India. To me, it does not matter where he plays, just imagine the pressure he is in. Whenever he goes wicketless, people start talking. He is a human being, trying his best. To come out on top being in this situation, putting his hands up and delivering series after series, says a lot about the bowler he is," said Rohit. https://www.instagram.com/p/C4vMI6oNVgu/?hl=en Rohit lauded England batter Ollie Pope for his knock of 196 in the first Test at Hyderabad and spoke about the team's mindset following the loss in the first Test. "Ollie Pope century was nice to watch, one of the best centuries by an overseas batter. It won them that game. After losing the first game, it is not easy, there is a lot of thinking about the combination, brand of cricket etc. So many questions creep in. For us, it was important to stay calm, let it flow and focus on the next Test match. It was important to send that message to the group we need not panic, it happens and there are four more matches to go," said Rohit. The skipper said that pacer Jasprit Bumrah's six-wicket haul during the second Test at Vizag was "unreal" and remarked that he has not seen any fast bowler bowl like this in India. He also lauded opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for his double ton in the same match. Jaiswal had scored 209 runs out of 396 runs in the first innings for India. "Jasprit Bumrah's spell at Vizag was unreal, on a flat pitch, not easy for quicks, then comes Bumrah, gets the ball to reverse both sides - I have not seen any fast bowler bowled like this in India," said Rohit. "Yashasvi Jaiswal double hundred in the second Test Match was outstanding and very important. He scored double hundred...So that was incredible innings, especially after the first Test match loss. It was so important for someone to step up and Jaiswal and Bumrah did," he added. Rohit said that though spin-bowling all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin delivered fine all-round performances, it was Kuldeep Yadav's performances, notably his improved batting, which caught his eyes. "Throughout the series, Ash-Jaddu did well with bat and ball. To me, the most pleasing was Kuldeep Yadav. The way he bowled in his four Test matches, took crucial wickets, Zak Crawley in the 2nd Test, Ben Duckett in the 3rd Test, and Zak Crawley in the 5th Test. His batting was pleasing. He has been working really hard on his batting. So it was great to see him get those rewards with the bat," said the skipper. In the series, Kuldeep scored 97 valuable runs as a lower-order batter and took 19 wickets at an average of 20.15. The skipper lauded Kuldeep and Dhruv Jurel's match-saving partnership and later, Jurel's partnership with Shubman Gill during the fourth Test during the fourth Test in a tense run-chase of 192, with the team at a tough spot on score of 120/5 while chasing. He called Jurel and Kuldeep's stand in the first innings as a "series-defining partnership" for helping India reduce England's first innings lead to just 46 runs after a century by Ben Duckett pushed England to 353 in the first innings. "Jurel-Kuldeep partnership was a series-defining partnership otherwise it could have been 2-2. That was where we won the series. Then on day four, Jurel and Gill batted after three quick wickets, we were on the backfoot, but they showed what they had. In that situation, forming a partnership, and absorbing pressure, that is what we got to see. I loved their batting in that situation. We have got a great future ahead with all these players," said the skipper. (ANI)
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