Abhishek Nayar has given an insight into how Rohit Sharma has been training before leaving for Australia for the upcoming ODI series. Rohit, who was out of international cricket after the Champions Trophy, started training for the Australian tour back in August. The former Indian captain was seen training with Nayar as he shed the weight with a major focus on his fitness.
This was followed by training at Shivaji Park where Nayar was again present. Speaking to Star Sports before the start of the ODI series, the former India assistant coach said it has been a structured three months for Rohit, focusing on fitness first.
Once Rohit managed to shed the extra poundsAccording to Nayar, the focus then turned to adjusting fitness.
“It’s been a very structured three months for Rohit. In the beginning the obvious plan was to work on his fitness and make sure he can shed a few kilos. He ended up shedding more than a few to get fit and then in the last five weeks all the focus was on his match fitness,” said Nayar.
Mumbai match simulation
Nayar went on to say that Rohit was also involved in match simulations where they tried to replicate the Australian conditions.
“Like I said earlier, even if you’ve been playing international cricket for so long, you still want to be fully prepared when you come back. So there was a lot of match simulations – in the early days he spent a lot of time in the nets, getting his rhythm back, getting his batting fitness back, and then it was all about match temperament. So, a lot of match practice, a lot of simulated match situations,” Na said.
The former Indian assistant coach said that in Mumbai, they used pitches that had a lot of pace and bounce and faced high pacers like Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc.
“I know it’s different in Australia, but luckily in Mumbai you have a pitch with a lot of pace and also bounce. So we tried to simulate that – facing tall fast bowlers like the Hazlewood type and left-arm pacers like Starc. We tried to make it as close as possible to what he would face there.”
“But like I said, you can practice as much as you want, you can prepare forever, but once you’re there – as he always tells me – the actual experience always comes in handy in some way. So he’s going to capitalize on that experience and we’re all really looking forward to seeing Rohit Sharma back and scoring for India,” Nayar said.
Rohit hit the ground in Perth as he was seen taking part in intense training and appeared to be in good touch.
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Published on:
October 18, 2025
