Rohit takes a veiled dig at Kishan

'This is the toughest format and in this tough format if you want success and want to excel then you will have to keep that hunger in you,' said Rohit.

Ranchi: Rohit Sharma had a message to put out. It was evident to everyone in the room that he was itching to say something at the final press conference of the fourth Test in Ranchi on Monday.

After India won the game by five wickets, a chuffed Indian skipper arrived as light as a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. India had taken an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series, and despite all the injuries, workload breaks and such, India had done well especially their younger lot.

“This is the toughest format and in this tough format if you want success and want to excel then you will have to keep that hunger in you,” he said when asked about something entirely unconnected.

“We will give opportunity only to those who are hungry. You get to know who is hungry and who is not. You get to understand who is hungry. Those who want to play and perform in tough conditions will get preference, it’s as simple as that.”

And then he continued. “It’s no point playing them if there is no hunger (in them). I don’t see anybody in this team who doesn’t have the hunger. We all went through having limited opportunities, where if you don’t grab your chance it goes away.”

Rohit’s unprovoked monologue was also a jab at the likes of Ishan Kishan. While Kishan is likely to play the DY Patil T20 tournament in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday, he hasn’t done himself any favours by ignoring the management’s domestic cricket diktat after pulling out of India’s tour of South Africa recently.

At the same time, Rohit was highlighting the tenacity and the working nature of the younger lot.

“A lot of these guys are quite grounded. Jaiswal is still hunky-dory, but other than that all these guys are quite humble, they come from a humble background, so they take that into their game as well,” said the Mumbaikar when asked about how the management keeps the youngsters locked in.

“Our job is to make sure that the environment is there for them to go out there and do the job, and that is what we try and do with a lot of these younger players. They have spent a lot of time playing domestic cricket, so they are quite aware of this particular format, playing longer innings, bowling longer spells, they’re quite aware of that.”

Rohit went so far as to say that the likes of Gill, Jaiswal and so on will be playing lead roles regularly in the years to come.