Even as Mumbai fought their way out of trouble against Himachal Pradesh out in the middle in their Ranji Trophy fixture, a familiar figure was seen at the nets inside the Sharad Pawar Bandra-Kurla Complex ground nets. At lunch on Day 1, Rohit Sharma made his way to the practice area situated behind the ground even as Dhawal Kulkarni and other coaches worked on the reserve bowlers.
Wearing a blue shirt and shorts with a black cap, the 38-year-old was seen doing light sprints just outside the nets on a sunny afternoon. Abhishek Nayar, with whom Sharma has trained recently, was not present on Saturday.
The former India captain is next likely to be seen in action during the three-match ODI series against South Africa, starting in Ranchi on November 30. He made an unbeaten 121 in his last international appearance against Australia in the third ODI at Sydney, which helped India chase down Australia’s score of 237 with nine wickets in hand and more than 11 overs to spare.
The Australian tour was his first series for India since the Champions Trophy in March, which India won by beating New Zealand in the final. The right-hander won the Player of the Match in the summit clash for his 76 off 83 balls, which paved the way for India to chase down 252 runs for victory.
Sharma played his last first-class match for Mumbai against Jammu & Kashmir in January before retiring from Test cricket in May. He had announced his retirement from T20Is after leading India to victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Ahead of the ODI series against Australia, he was replaced by Shubman Gill as the 50-over captain after leading India to the Champions Trophy title in March. The 38-year-old is only the second Indian captain to win two ICC trophies after MS Dhoni, who won all three global titles during his captaincy tenure.
