"Itna mehnat kiya hai, kuch to chahiye yaar"- Rohit Sharma insists India 'desperate' to win Test series against South Africa

India captain Rohit Sharma feels that the players have worked hard and are giving it their all to try to win the first-ever Test series on South African soil.

Several players in the Indian Test team came close to glory in the 2023 World Cup. While Rohit claimed that nothing can replace the joy of a World Cup win, he feels the team deserves to win something special, like the Test series against the Proteas in their den.

Speaking to the reporters on the eve of the first Test against South Africa, here's what Rohit Sharma had to say about the importance of the Test series:

"We have been coming here from so many years but haven't won the series here. It will be a big thing if we win the series here. Now I don't know whether if we win it could heal the World Cup loss. World Cup is World Cup. But this in itself is a massive series with a lot of history and if we achieve this then it will be really nice for the guys. Itna mehnat kiya hai, kuch to chahiye yaar hum log ko (We have worked so hard, we want to win something big)."

Rohit Sharma also understands the void created by Mohammed Shami's absence and feels it is a tough decision to select one pacer between Prasidh Krishna and Mukesh Kumar. He added:

"Both are different bowlers. Prasidh is a hit-the-deck bowler and can extract a lot from the pitch. Mukesh has been impressive in the past 6-8 months. We know what to expect from Siraj and Bumrah. It is important to see what kind of a bowler we need. We have decided 75 percent on that. We will decide in our meeting in the evening."

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Rohit Sharma reacts to India's win over Australia

Rohit Sharma also congratulated the Indian team on beating Australia and England in the back-to-back Tests that they played recently in Mumbai. He credited Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. for their passion to play Test cricket and was hopeful that they would play a lot more red-ball cricket going forward.

On this, he stated:

"It is pretty heartening to see how they are playing Test cricket and good to see them getting so involved in Test cricket. It is not just about white-ball cricket. Test cricket, I saw the passion in their face and their body language after the win. We were watching them in the dressing room here."

He added:

"It is good to see that people want to play Test cricket. Whether it's men's cricket or women's cricket. Getting the result at the end of the day was very pleasing. I hope they grow from strength to strength and they get to play a lot of Test cricket and that is what challenges you. I am pretty sure you will get to see more and more Test cricket played by the women's team as well."

The first of the two Tests between India and South Africa will be played at Centurion from Tuesday, December 26.