Rohit Sharma ignores BCCI chatter, arranges secret 3-hour net session for Australia prep just hours before CEAT Awards

Rohit Sharma trained in a secret 3-hour session for Australia tour before attending CEAT Awards, days after losing India’s ODI captaincy to Shubman Gill.

Despite a glorious resume in ODI cricket, both as a player and a captain, Rohit Sharma has once again embarked on a journey to prove his critics wrong. Although the BCCI's selection committee has handed the 38-year-old an opportunity to prove his worth in the upcoming tour of Australia, it will be a 'perform or perish' series for Rohit, with the members reportedly having doubts about whether he could find form after a seven-month hiatus. Despite the outside noise and lack of support from the BCCI, Rohit has his eyes set on the challenge of taking on the Australian bowling attack, hoping that the tour will bring him success and reinstate him in the team's plans for the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Rohit Sharma has been picked for the Australia ODIs

According to a report in RevSportz, hours before he turned heads with this appearance at the annual CEAT Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday, from mid-morning to early afternoon, he hit the nets at the Reliance Corporate Park in Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. It was a self-arranged private training session, comprising eight to 10 net bowlers. The report revealed that the former India captain had to speak to different clubs in Mumbai maidans to arrange for the bowlers. The training took place under the watchful eyes of Mumbai Indians physio Amit Dube, who was present to monitor the entire session.

The report also revealed that the training focused on the extra bounce in Australian pitches. "Rohit’s practice was mainly centred around facing the short deliveries and playing horizontal-bat shots," the report read.

Earlier, the website had reported that when the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian team were in the midst of their triumphant Asia Cup campaign in the UAE last month, Rohit trained for almost a week at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, where he had initially arrived for the mandatory pre-season fitness test. His training was focused entirely on the impending tour of Australia, where he would face throwdown specialists and tall, fast bowlers whom he had specifically requested. He also did light-weight training in the gym.

Following a three-hour, intense training session in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday, Rohit attended the CEAT Awards, where he was presented with a special memento for captaining India to a Champions Trophy victory earlier this year. The event was his first public appearance since being removed as the ODI captain last Saturday, with Shubman Gill taking over the role.

After accepting the award, Rohit opened up on his selection for the series and the kind of challenge he will face against the Australian bowlers.

"I personally took a lot of pride in trying to excel in all three forms whenever I had the opportunity and that is something that a few others also did and that eventually rubbed off on the team as well," Rohit said.

"I love playing against them. I love going to Australia. It's a very challenging country to play cricket. People there love the game as well," he said, talking about the Australia tour.

"But certainly, Australia is a different challenge every time they have played against us. Having been there now several times, I do understand what to expect. Hopefully we can go there and do what the Indian team is supposed to do and get the result in our favour," he said.