"Itna Mehnat Kia Hain Toh...": Rohit Sharma's Quip Leaves Reporters In Splits Ahead Of South Africa Tests

Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma made it clear that a win in the Test series against South Africa will not compensate for the pain caused by the team's defeat in the Cricket World Cup 2023. However, in his trademark witty style, Rohit said that they have put a lot of effort in the past few months and they deserve to win something. Ahead of the first Test match between India and South Africa starting December 26 in Centurion, Rohit was asked about his feelings after the World Cup final loss against Australia and he said that all the players will surely be desperate to bounce back from that defeat.

"We have never won a Test series in South Africa and it'll be a big thing if we do it here. I do not know whether it'll be able to take away the pain of World Cup defeat. If we are able to achieve it then it'll be a good thing. Itna Mehnat Kiya hai to kuch to chahiye humko," Rohit said at the press conference.

South Africa remains somewhat of a 'final frontier' for the Indian cricket team as they have never won a Test series on Proteas grounds. As a result, there will extra pressure on Rohit Sharma and Co.

Rohit also admitted that there's so much cricket happening these days that players have to move on. "The way we played, you expect to go an inch further. Unfortunately, we couldn't do it. That was the hard part. You saw how we managed to play the 10 games."

"We didn't do certain things well in the final and that's why we lost. It is hard but there's so much happening in life, so much cricket, you've got to find the strength. It took me time to come out but you've got to move on," he said.

"We got a lot of encouragement from the outside world and that motivated me personally to get up," Rohit added.