India’s former strength and conditioning (S&C) coach Soham Desai revealed that Rohit Sharma suffered a career-threatening injury in 2017 during the Champions Trophy, where India infamously lost to Pakistan in the final, and played down suggestions that the ex-Indian skipper is ‘lazy,’ and shut down any criticism over his fitness.
Desai reserved high praise for the legendary batter and claimed he has worked very hard to play for so long. The ex-S&C coach of the Indian team stated that Rohit has only been able to survive and stay injury-free because of extensive training.
“So people say this Rohit is lazy, mota hai (that he’s fat), training nahi karta hai (that he doesn’t train). People need to understand this: that Rohit Sharma had a career-threatening injury around his hip in 2017 – Champions Trophy jab hum log hare the Pakistan ke samne final, wo wali mein (after the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan). So he has got surgeries in his hamstring and his hip flexor and all that,” said Soham on Prashant Desai’s podcast.
“Around his hip is his weak spot. If he doesn’t train for a minimum of two strength sessions in a week, he is a red flag, he is a ticking bomb. And that is the scenario for the last seven to eight years. So if he was not working hard, if he was lazy, he wouldn’t have lasted till today.
“Forget about scoring runs, leading in the IPL, playing twelve months, all formats. For the last seven-eight years, so it has been non-negotiable. Either he has to do that or he has to work in a particular manner on the ground. Without those two, he cannot last and this is not a secret,” Soham concluded.
Virat Kohli vs Rohit Sharma
Soham further explained how Rohit and Virat Kohli differ and claimed that the difference was that Rohit has to do a lot of strength training due to his past injuries, while Virat does not need to.
“Rohit is very strength based and very explosive and reactive based. And Virat almost never runs in comparison because he doesn’t need to. His (Kohli’s) work comes from the ground, and he only does lifting and basic strength work when it comes to training. Whereas for him (Rohit), because of his injury history, if he doesn’t do strength – particular manner of strength – then he’s is going to be creating that gap bigger and bigger. And also, he needs to do his basic running work to keep his hamstrings, quads and everything in good rhythm,” Soham explained.