India’s captain Rohit Sharma shared the story behind his now-famous line, Koi garden mein nahi ghoomega. It all started during a Test match against England in Vishakhapatnam last year. Rohit noticed that after one over, his teammates were casually walking around like they were in a park, not showing any urgency. This really frustrated him.
During that match, he was captured on the stump mic urging his team to pick up their energy. Looking back, he explained why he said what he did. It was in Vizag, and after that over, the players were just strolling around. No one was running, and there was zero urgency. I was fielding in the slips while our spinners were bowling, Rohit recalled while chatting on JioHotstar.
He emphasized that it was an important game, and they needed a win. I had told the guys earlier that we needed to put in some extra effort, but it looked like they were just enjoying the game too much, he added.
As the game progressed, Rohit felt they needed a wicket and wanted his team to be more engaged. I saw it for a couple of overs and thought, ‘This can’t go on.’ You can’t play cricket like this. Everyone was just going with the flow, and it really got to me, so I told them to step it up.
Rohit mentioned that a partnership was forming for England, and he was eager to break it. In those moments, everybody needs to pull together. It felt like the team was too focused on their own thing, and that didn’t sit well with me, he said.
At that time, England had already won the first Test, so India was keen on making a comeback. Thanks to Jasprit Bumrah’s amazing performance, taking nine wickets, India ended up winning that Test by 106 runs.
