Rohit Sharma Recalls His Father’s Love for Test Cricket in Front of Cheteshwar Pujara

Rohit Sharma, post-Test retirement, spoke about his decision and his father's deep affection for red-ball cricket at an event with Cheteshwar Pujara.

Rohit Sharma Recalls His Father’s Love for Test Cricket in Front of Cheteshwar Pujara

Rohit Sharma admitted that his father was disappointed on his decision to retire from Tests, last month. (via YouTube)

Indian ODI skipper Rohit Sharma, for the first time since his retirement from Test cricket, opened up about his decision to give up playing red-ball cricket. Sharma, speaking in an event with Cheteshwar Pujara, even reflected on his father’s love for the longest format of the game. 

Rohit Sharma was most recently seen in Mumbai Indians colors in the 2025 edition of the IPL, where he scored 418 runs in 15 matches, at an average of 29.86 and a strike rate of 149.29. The 38-year-old, on May 7, 2025, surprised fans by announcing his decision to retire from Test cricket, while also stepping down as India’s red-ball captain, a position that he held since January 2022.

Following Rohit Sharma’s decision to retire from Test cricket, Virat Kohli, one of his closest teammates and former India skipper, also called time on his red-ball career. Sharma retired from the longest format of the game with a career tally of 4,301 runs in 67 matches, hitting 12 centuries. His decision also marks the beginning of a new era for the Indian Test team under newly-appointed skipper, Shubman Gill.

While reiterating that he would still continue to serve as the Men in Blues’ ODI captain, his retirement from Test cricket, many believe, was prompted by the criticism surrounding his recent red-ball form. Across eight matches during the 2024-25 season, Rohit Sharma managed to score only 164 runs, averaging just 10.93. He even had to opt out of playing the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in Sydney.

Speaking publicly on his retirement at the launch of veteran Indian Test batter, Cheteshwar Pujara’s wife, Puja Pujara’s book ‘The Diary of a Cricketer’s Wife’ in Mumbai, Rohit Sharma was asked about his father, Gurunath Sharma’s reaction. To this, the 38-year-old admitted that his father was disappointed with his decision to retire from Tests, and stated that he has always been an admirer of the longest format. Sharma shared:

My father has seen me playing a lot of cricket with red ball, obviously. So he appreciates red ball cricket a lot. And then, obviously, he was a little disappointed when I announced my retirement.

Rohit Sharma stated that his father is not fond of ‘new-age’ short-over formats, and even revealed that he was not too excited, after Rohit scored his first double-century. He went on to claim that his father used to discuss in detail the useful contributions that he made as an opener in Test cricket, despite them being quite small in comparison to the ones he hit in ODIs and T20Is.

Even if I used to get good 30s or 40s or 50s or 60s, in Test cricket used to talk to me about it in detail. So that’s the kind of love he had for the game. And he’s obviously seen you go up the ranks.

Moreover, Rohit Sharma added that both his parents had sacrificed a lot to see him progress, and that his father even followed his career closely from the under-19 days to the highest level. Apart from Sharma, the event was also attended by former India coach and spinner, Anil Kumble.

Rohit Sharma reveals how former India teammate Cheteshwar Pujara troubled him during his early playing days

Indian cricket star Rohit Sharma recently revealed that his former teammate-turned friend, Cheteshwar Pujara troubled him a lot during his junior cricketing days. He hilariously stated that Pujara was the reason behind his skin getting tanned. 

Rohit Sharma on Cheteshwar Pujara early days
Rohit Sharma recalled his his early playing days with former Indian Test teammate Cheteshwar Pujara. (via One Cricket)

Speaking at the launch of Puja Pujara’s book, Sharma and Cheteshwar conversed about their early playing days. Reminiscing and old incident, Sharma hilariously revealed how his team would strategize to get Pujara out.

Upon being questioned by his mother about the changed skin colour, Sharma even admitted to having said that Pujara batted for three long days, forcing his team to field under the sun. He recalled:

I would say, ‘mom, what do I do? There’s a batsman by the name of Cheteshwar Pujara. He’s been batting for three days’… so that is the first impression that we had of him

Nonetheless, the two players later went on to establish themselves as great red-ball players for India. Rohit Sharma however, has played a fewer number of matches compared to Pujara, who has featured in 103 Test matches, scoring 7,195 runs at an average of 43.60.