SA vs IND 2024: “It’s just about showing faith and trust in everyone” – Rohit Sharma

Indian captain Rohit Sharma feels it is important to show faith and trust in everyone ahead of the second Test match against South Africa at Cape Town. India suffered an igniminious defeat of an innings and 32 runs in the opening Test match against the Proteas and they will look to bounce back in the second Test.

It is natural that shoulders could drop in the Indian dressing room after such a heavy defeat and that’s where Rohit Sharma’s role as a leader becomes even more important. India has made two changes to their playing XI as Ravindra Jadeja has replaced Ravichandran Ashwin whereas Mukesh Kumar replaced Shardul Thakur.

Indian bowlers could not come up with a collective show in the opening Test, conceding 408 runs and thus they will aim to turn a corner against the home team.

“Honestly, I haven’t thought too much about that (pace bowling changes) although we have had a brief chat with the management and the coaching staff. We’ve not completely finalised our playing XI. Obviously, everyone is available for selection. There are no injury concerns. We’ll sit down in the evening and decide what is the right one. I still feel that sometimes when you have inexperience in your attack, we have that, you have to show some faith.

“That can happen to any team. Like I said in the last post-match press conference about Prasidh playing his first game, we all get nervous when you are playing your first game. I will still back that thought of mine that he has got good ability to succeed at this level, especially in this format. It’s just about showing faith and trust in everyone, and getting the job done from them.”

Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal could not deliver the goods in the opening Test and it will be crucial for the trio to get the job done in the second game.

“We have to accept what is in front of us, whether it is two Test matches or five Test matches. Have to play it and play well. About these three guys (Gill, Shreyas and Jaiswal), you rightly said that they haven’t played a lot of cricket. They have been around the team for a number of years. If you perform well in these conditions against such a team, you can take your game to another level. And that’s the positivity you need to find from games like these. It doesn’t matter how many games you have played, whether you have played one game or hundred games. When you perform in conditions like this, against a team like that, it gives you lot of confidence going ahead.

India (Playing XI) for second Test: Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar