Mumbai: Rohit Sharma’s childhood coach Dinesh Lad was speechless to describe the innings played by Team India’s stand-in captain, in-charge in the absence of Virat Kohli.
“It was unbelievable and there is no word I can describe to Rohit Sharma’s innings today”, he said in an exclusive chat.
Interestingly, Sharma’s double century came on his second wedding anniversary and in front of his wife Ritika Sajdeh, who looked anxious when her husband was nearing this score. Ritika, who was the batsman’s manager before, got married in 2015.
It could not be confirmed whether the Sri Lanka’s one-day players have their family members on this tour, but during Tests matches few players, including captain Dinesh Chandimal, did have them around.
Jeremy Snape, former England cricketer who worked with the Sri Lankan players and now is a sport and business psychologist with SportingEdge.com, believes that the presence of family always helps the players.
“I’d always support the players spending time with their families, but getting clear rules in place is important,” he said. “Every professional and international sports team has to decide how and when to integrate families into their match and touring schedule.
“It’s best done proactively so that each family can prepare around school holidays and other commitments, although some last minute requests are inevitable”.
“The modern cricketer can be travelling for 280 days per year with various T20 tournaments and even when they play home Test series, they are often travelling around their country”, he added.
“Being in the media spotlight along with the test of international cricket brings enormous challenges and if players are to have long and successful careers they need high levels of support too”.
“Modern tech with Skype and FaceTime is a great advance but spending time with your family face to face cannot be underestimated”.
“The next challenge for the player to manage is how they create boundaries between their normal training and match schedule and accommodating the requests of their partners and families. Bedtimes, meal types and trips to the local park instead of resting are all part of the touring family discussion,” Snape concluded.
— Writer is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai
