'It is tougher than Australia': Rohit Sharma names the toughest country to play cricket for India

Indian captain Rohit Sharma is all set to lead the Men in Blue in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in June. The BCCI has unveiled its 15-member squad for the marquee tournament, which is slated to be held in the USA and West Indies. Rohit is currently participating in IPL 2024, where his team, Mumbai Indians led by Hardik Pandya, has failed to qualify for the playoffs. 

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Rohit Sharma picks the toughest country to tour

MI is scheduled to play its last game of the season against Lucknow Super Giants on May 17, following which Rohit Sharma and other Team India members will fly out to the United States to prepare for the T20 World Cup. Teams that have qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs will send their World Cup-bound players after the tournament ends on May 26. 

In a recent interview with Dubai Eye 103.8, Rohit Sharma shared insights on a range of topics. Among the questions posed, one particularly intriguing inquiry was about the toughest team to face. While many anticipated Rohit would cite Australia, he diverged from the expected and named South Africa as the formidable opponent. Explaining his choice, Rohit expressed that he finds South Africa more challenging to contend with than Australia because of the different stypes of surfaces in the country.

"I feel South Africa is tougher than Australia. Because you travel to different parts of South Africa and everywhere you get a different type of pitch. You go to Cape Town you get something different, you go to Johannesburg something different again. So, you gotta adapt to so many different types of skillset. That makes it more challenging to tour," Rohit Sharma said. 

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The Indian cricket team has never won a Test series in South Africa. Under Rohit Sharma's captaincy, India recently drew a two-match Test series against the Proteas and that is it. India, however, has defeated Australia in two back-to-back Test series in 2018-19 and 2020-21 and has also won the red-ball series in England. Except for South Africa, India has won the Test series against every nation on their home soil.