Former Team India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar showed how a news channel body-shamed veteran India batter Rohit Sharma, forcing him to work on his fitness in 2011 as well. He was left out of the 2011 ODI World Cup squad, much to his dismay, as India won at home. Rohit has since become one of India’s greatest white-ball batters, especially in World Cups. However, Nayar shared how he was reluctant to hit the gym until the news channel shamed him for his fitness as well.

Recalling his conversation then with Rohit, Nayar said on The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan (via NDTV): “We used to argue a lot because I trained heavily, while he relied more on skill. I would tell him, ‘Come on, let’s hit the gym,’ and he would say, ‘Leave it, I will score runs.’ There was nothing wrong with that mindset; fitness culture and the Virat Kohli phenomenon had not yet transformed Indian cricket. The turning point came when a news channel published his photo with a circle drawn around his belly. That image stuck in his mind.”

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Abhishek Nayar further shared about his conversation with Rohit Sharma after the legendary batter was dropped from the 2011 ODI World Cup squad. He was adamant about a four-pack in the following IPL 2011 to showcase his fitness, according to Nayar as well.

“When the World Cup squad was announced and he was not selected, we were at his house. He expected to be picked. IPL was scheduled to take place after about a month and a half, and he told me, ‘Nayar, whatever it takes in these six weeks, I need to enter the IPL with at least a four-pack.’ People may not believe it, but he entered that IPL with a four-pack. For him, skill was never the issue. It was always about fitness and using that to elevate his skill set,” Abhishek Nayar concluded.