Rohit Sharma Says The Talk of 'Talent' Has Spoiled Things For Him

Rohit Sharma has been the most polarising cricketer in India. His exploits in the Indian Premier League, his two magnificent double centuries in ODIs and his sensational Test debut provided a glimpse of his cricketing acumen and talent. However, inconsistency, combined with inability to live up to high expectations, have made Rohit a hot topic with regards to his inclusion in the Indian team. (Rohit Sharma Was a Wasted Talent Four Years Ago, Backs Mahendra Singh Dhoni)

However, in an interview to DNA, Rohit has stated that all the talk of talent has bogged him down in the recent past. "I don't think that I am talented. This 'talent' talk has messed things up for me. I started my career as a bowler. I was never a batsman. All this natural talent, God's gift and all that circulating in the media is unfair and wrong. I have worked on my batting to get here. I used to bat at No. 8. From there, I made my way up," said Rohit, who opens the innings for India in limited-overs cricket. (WATCH: Sunil Gavaskar Cautious in his Praise of Rohit Sharma)

The 28-year-old right-handed batsman reiterated that it was only through hard work that he has come up in the Indian team. "All these terms like 'lazy elegance' have been coined by the media. Nothing comes naturally to anybody. There is nothing easy in cricket. Nothing comes to you. Nobody knows about the hard work that's been put in. Nobody knows what I do to improve my skills and my fitness," he said.

After his sensational Test debut against the West Indies in 2013 where he scored back-to-back centuries in his first two Tests, Rohit has endured a lean patch in the longest format of the game. In his next 14 Tests, he has averaged 37 and has not scored a Test hundred for close to two years now. However, India's batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, has backed Rohit and stated that whenever he has played, he has contributed to the team's causes.

In the series against Sri Lanka, Rohit got off to a terrible start, scoring only nine and four in the defeat at Galle. However, he responded with scores of 79, 34, 26 and 50 in the next two Tests. He was the second-highest run-scorer in the series with 202 runs but with India potentially going for a five-bowler strategy and with the availability of many players, the pressure is once again on Rohit ahead of the  South Africa series.

However, he was not too fussed about how the team composition would be for the South Africa matches and stated that people in charge of the team will take that call.