In the dead of night, when Test cricket refused to leave his mind alone, Rohit Sharma reached for something surprisingly simple.
Not a sports drink. Not an energy bar. His mother’s banana wafers.
The former India captain, who closed his Test career last year after 67 matches and 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, opened a rare window into his inner world on his television show, “Family Full House with Rohit Sharma”. In a format he calls his favourite, the pressure didn’t always fade with stumps. It followed him back to the hotel room, sat on his chest, and kept his eyes wide open.
“Haan, hoti toh hai. Main jhooth nahi bolunga,” he admitted, speaking about that nervousness. For him, Test cricket was never just another assignment. It was the exam he cared about most. “Kyunki Test match khelna aasaan format nahi hai… Test match ke apne alag-alag challenges hote the. Toh Test match ke liye main hamesha nervous rehta tha.”
The result was familiar to any cricketer who has lived out of a suitcase and under a spotlight: long, restless nights. “Nervousness mein mujhe neend nahi aati thi, toh raat bhar main jaaga rehta tha,” he said. When sleep disappeared, appetite walked in.
That’s when the comfort food came out.
“You stay awake and you feel like eating something,” Rohit recalled. He had a plan for that. He always carried a small taste of home with him, tucked into his luggage before every tour. “Toh main hamesha mere saath mera comfort food rakhta tha, jo meri mummy hamesha bana ke deti thi, woh tha banana wafers.”
These weren’t the oily, mass-produced chips from a supermarket shelf. There was a method, and a mother’s care, behind them. “Woh fried nahi hota tha. Meri mummy ke kuch tareeke the, woh bake karti thi usko,” he said. A healthier twist on a classic snack, packed and sent with the quiet understanding only a parent can offer a child chasing something bigger than himself.
He would carry them everywhere. Different countries, different conditions, same small box. “Woh main hamesha apne saath leke chalta tha. Toh kabhi bhi mann karta tha toh usse kha leta tha,” Rohit said.
Test Career
Across a decade-long Test career that began in 2013 and ended in 2024, Rohit built a reputation as a formidable opener, crafting 12 centuries and 18 fifties, with a highest score of 212. Fans saw the elegance, the front-foot drives, the authority at the top of the order. What they rarely saw were those quiet hours after play, when a senior pro lay awake, replaying dismissals and planning the next day’s battle, surviving on baked banana wafers and resolve.
For a batter who lived through the mental and physical grind of the longest format, that humble snack became more than food. It was a ritual. A link to home. A reminder that behind the numbers and milestones, even a modern great sometimes needed his mother’s cooking to get through a Test match night.
