RANCHI: EVERY time Rohit Sharma comes for a press conference, there is no dearth of anecdotes. After sealing the series against England in Ranchi, it was a similar interaction.

However, when the topic of hunger for Test cricket among the youngsters was broached, he did not mince words. “This is the toughest format and in this tough format, if you want success and want to excel, then you will have to keep that hunger in you,” he explained. “We will give opportunity only to those who are hungry. You get to know who is hungry and who is not. You get to understand and who are hungry and they want to play and perform in tough conditions then those players will get preference, it’s as simple as that. it’s no point playing them if there is no hunger (in them).

“I don’t see anybody in this team who doesn’t have the hunger. All these guys who are here and not here want to play. We all went through this that we have limited opportunities and if you don’t grab your chance it goes away. It is normal and it happens in cricket. Whoever uses the opportunity and helps the team win and perform those get noted and it is important. Indian Premier League is a good format no doubt, but this is the most difficult format and to get success in this difficult format is not that easy. We have seen in this series… we had to work hard, batsmen had to spend time in the middle and bowlers had to bowl long spells. This is hard work format,” said the Indian captain.