Rohit Sharma has joined the Indian ODI team. Rohit practiced vigorously on Wednesday. Despite the presence of rising stars, Hitman remained the center of attraction in team practice. The fans reached the S Bindra Stadium complex even before the Indian team bus arrived. There was a lot of curiosity among the people about Rohit. There was speculation about his fitness due to his recent stay away from sports.

Yet when the Indian team gathered for training, it became clear on whom everyone’s eyes would be. Indian T20 team captain Shreyas Iyer was also present. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal, young players Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav and Harsh Dubey were also practicing. But when 39 year old Rohit reached the training ground, everyone’s eyes were fixed on him.

Rohit’s season started away from the batting nets. He chatted for a few minutes with strength and conditioning coach Adrien Le Roux and then began a light sprint back and forth. Ishan Kishan stayed with him during the drill and Rohit completed about five sets. Despite recent concerns regarding fitness, he did not see any problem. However, the real curiosity increased when he wore the pads.

For the next one hour, his every move was closely monitored, because sometimes he was practicing in the fast bowlers’ net and sometimes in the spinners’ net. Some people present there were keeping an eye on his every shot and every mistake. The initial signs for the batsman who returned after the break were as expected. He looked a little uncomfortable and was concentrating on timing instead of hitting boundaries.

Nitish Kumar Reddy got him out LBW on these cutters in the very beginning. After this he released some balls of Gurnoor Brar and Prince Yadav. Then he played some hesitant shots and missed a few times while trying to play the ball. It seemed that his focus was on regaining the rhythm. However, soon glimpses of his aggressive game were also visible. He took a ball from Arshdeep Singh over deep midwicket with his special ‘flick’ shot. After this Prince tried to bowl a wide yorker, but Rohit turned it in the other direction. When Gurnoor bowled a short ball, Rohit tried to play a pull shot, but the ball did not hit the middle of the bat. Nevertheless, the improvement in his game was clearly visible during the session.

When he reached the spinners’ net, there was a lot of ease in his game. Against the off-break net bowler, he hit straight sixes which looked very easy. Such shots due to which his batting has been recognized for the last two decades. In the coming days it will become more clear what his actual condition is. No definite answer was found from Wednesday’s net session, but it definitely gave a glimpse of a champion batsman trying to get back into his rhythm.