I am not at a stage to worry if I will be picked or not, says Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is all dapperly done up for an awards show on Monday evening. From his suite in a South Mumbai hotel overlooking the Arabian Sea, Sharma is preparing a black coffee for himself. He makes a cringey face as he sips from the cup. May be he didn't like the bitter taste of it.
He is still at ease as he sinks into his sofa comfortably.

Sharma, who is coming from a disappointing IPL season for Mumbai Indians, has been someone who has accepted life as it is. Also, whatever cricket has come into his life is all thanks to his talent extraordinaire, hard work and destiny. He has openly accepted it — be it success or disappointments. Rarely will one will find him sulk over things he missed out on.

Even as he is turning older, the maturity is visible through his talks and a few grey strands in his hair.

After one series failure against South Africa, Sharma has been excluded from the Test squad for the one-off game against Afghanistan. It's a sign that his return in whites won't be anytime soon.

If someone else was in his place, he would have sulked and thought about it over and over again, but not Sharma.

Ask for his reaction over his Test's non-selection and he says: "It's nothing what the selectors have done. You'll keep hearing this from every cricketer that their job is to go out and play and enjoy the cricket. For me, I am not at a stage to worry about whether I'll be picked or not. I need to enjoy my game.

"The first five-six years of my career, it was all about 'oh, will I be picked? Will I play!' Now it's all about enjoying the game. How much can you think about those things because it keeps adding pressure on you. Instead, it's best to enjoy yourself in what you do and give your best. That's what I am trying to do," Rohit adds before the CEAT Cricket Rating International Awards.

He wasn't even surprised that he wasn't picked for Afghanistan's debut Test. "I was not. I didn't even know that the team was getting picked. I got to know about it later on. As I said, I can only keep enjoying my game. There's no time to regret about anything. I've had enough time to regret in the past. Now it's all about going out there and enjoying the game and looking forward. We have got big events coming up, so best to focus on it," the stylish Mumbaikar said.

How did he come to such a philosophical thought? "It came through experience. I got into the national team when I was 20 and I made my Test debut when I was 26. In the first six years, I was only worried about that. I had an opportunity to make my debut in 2010 but I missed that (due to an injury). After that, I realised that the more you want, your attitude changes. But I have realised there's time for everything. Even if you want it, there has to be time and a slot available for it.

"The seniors – Sachin (Tendulkar), Rahul (Dravid), VVS (Laxman) and Sourav (Ganguly) – were all playing then, so we had to wait. My only job was to get experience, go back to Ranji Trophy, score runs, get into the ODI squad and see how much I can contribute in the middle order or down the order. During that phase, I kept worrying about my place in the team. Whether I'll be picked, when I'll be picked, what role will I be given.

"There were so many issues that were creeping into my head. After a point, I realised there's no point thinking about it. I could only control to make the best use of the opportunity presented to me. No point in thinking about what the selectors are doing. There's limited time you have as a player and I have finished almost half of it. There's no point in spending the remaining half thinking whether I'll be picked or not. I am going forward with the theory of 'whatever time I have, make it count'," the 31-year-old adds.

Stress on whether he wants to impress the selectors and get back in the whites for the big England series and convey his message, he says: "I don't want to convey anything to anyone. I just want to play my cricket. Simple.

Put him into a tricky question and ask him which formats suits him the most, he gives a quick reply with "all the formats".

Or, can people call you a white ball specialist? "By no means. As a child, all I dreamt of was to play Test cricket and that dream will never be over because XYZ doesn't feel that way. Nobody can take away my game or what I think about the game. Selectors can do what is best in their control, players can do what is in their control but for us, it's important to keep focus. When I started playing cricket, there was no white-ball cricket. We used to play in school, in age-group cricket with the red ball. White-ball cricket came much later. As a child, you only saw red-ball cricket and how important it was. It still has been the same and will never change till I stop playing cricket," he concludes.