The Indian captain donned his funny avatar and pulled the leg of birthday boy Kishan, who turned 25 on July 18 prior to the Trinidad Test.
Rohit Sharma brought his funny avatar to the Test match eve press conference held at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad on Tuesday (July 18) and pulled the leg of birthday boy Ishan Kishan, the young wicketkeeper-batter, who made his debut in the first Test against West Indies.
The Indian captain gave the funniest response when asked what birthday gift has he or the team planned for the Jharkhand cricketer watching his press interaction from behind the camera. Veteran journalist Vimal Kumar asked the question to Rohit, which resulted in another amusing response from the Mumbaikar.
Kumar said while handing him a debut cap in Test cricket in Dominica against the West Indies was an advanced surprise, what has the team planned to do to make Kishan’s 25th birthday more special? To this, Rohit funnily said no more surprises and it’s Kishan’s ton to give them a gift by scoring a century in the next match, starting Thursday (July 20).
Kishan watching his captain’s hilarious response burst out laughing himself on the sidelines while Rohit continued with his funny musing, insisting he must give the team a birthday gift instead by making it big with the bat in hand in Trinidad.
The clip pertaining to the incident from the Rohit Sharma presser has gone viral ever since on Twitter, with the Indian captain donning his unerringly funny avatar and talking indirectly to his young teammate, who couldn’t make his mark on debut in Dominica after batting just 20 balls for his unbeaten solitary run before the team declared their only batting effort.
“What birthday gift he wants? Kya chahiye bhai tereko?’ (What do you want brother?) You have everything,” Rohit directly asked Kishan, who was watching his skipper undergo the presser at the ground.
“We should ask the team about this. It should be the team’s contribution. Birthday gift tu hum logo ko dey bhai 100 – run karkey (You should give us a birthday gift by scoring 100 runs),” the skipper humorously added.
Typical Rohit Sharma press conference.
Talking about Ishan’s birthday. [RevSportz] pic.twitter.com/ONcorfE0Ss
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) July 18, 2023
Usually, the Indian team organises a cake-cutting ceremony for players celebrating their birthdays and it would’ve been no different for Kishan on Tuesday. The player will be hoping to make a mark in what is a critical Test match for him.
Falter or prove unconvincing in Trinidad, the selectors and the team management might look to spread the net wider in terms of keeping choices for the looming tour of South Africa in December-January – India’s next assignment in the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
