Batting great Sunil Gavaskar said he was happy to know that Indian captain Rohit Sharma has confirmed his participation in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy match against Jammu & Kashmir. Mumbai will take on Jammu and Kashmir at the MCA-BKC Ground when the Ranji Trophy resumes on January 23.
Sunil Gavaskar highlighted that Rohit knew that batting at the nets would not help him. “Yes, it’s a good thing because, look, he didn’t get runs in Australia, so he knows he needs to spend time out in the middle. How much net practice you have or however many throwdowns you face, batting in a game, feeling the ball in the middle of the bat, knowing that a mistake will send you back to the pavilion, and then still scoring runs is a big, big difference,” Sunil Gavaskar told India Today in an exclusive interaction.
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Rohit’s last Ranji outing came against Uttar Pradesh in November 2025. “Yes, I will play,” Rohit replied when he was asked about his availability for the Ranji match. Rohit trained with the Mumbai squad after managing to score just 31 runs in three Tests in Australia. The Indian captain dropped himself and handed over the leadership to Jasprit Bumrah for the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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“In the nets, you could get out caught 20 times, but you can still bat for 20 or 40 minutes. You keep getting dismissed in the nets. That practice isn’t good because there’s no pressure to bat well or protect your wicket. In a match, that pressure is real.
The former Indian captain said he was delighted with Rohit’s confirmation of returning to Ranji Trophy in the press conference.
“So what can happen and what should happen is if if you don’t get runs, then, you know. To the net next door because every ground now does not have nets on the ground, but next to the ground there are nets, so you fail with the bat in a match, go into the nets and have that practice, get that rhythm going, but nothing like playing in a match. I’m very happy to see that Rohit Sharma has said that he is going to play in the Trophy,” Gavaskar added.
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