Was really itching to get back to playing cricket: Rohit

Star Indian batsman Rohit Sharma is holed up in his apartment like everybody else due to the three-week lockdown that was declared in the country on Tuesday as it grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. Rohit said that he is making do with running up and down the stairs of his building to stay fit.

"Its very hard actually (to stay fit)," said Rohit in a live interaction on Instagram with former England captain Kevin Pietersen. "I live in a building which has about 54 floors and we had to stop all the indoor and outdoor activities. So just been running up and down the stairs. Not 54 floors but about two or three floors up and down and doing some conditioning exercises here and there."

Rohit had been recovering -- from a calf injury which he sustained during the fifth T20I between India and New Zealand -- at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru before it was shut down due to the spread of the pandemic.

He however said that he is completely fit now, although he is yet to do an official fitness test because the NCA is not working.

He said that he has been itching to play the game again after spending two months on the sidelines and was looking forward to the IPL.

"Definitely miss playing the game. I was injured for two months so have been itching to play. When I got the news that everything was going to be postponed I was very sad. I was really looking forward to playing in the IPL," he said.

Rohit's Mumbai Indians were scheduled to host Chennai Super Kings in the first match of the 2020 season of the IPL on March 29 at the Wankhede Stadium but the start to the season has been deferred to April 15 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"Regardless of all that, the safety of the country and the whole world is important. And I can see that there is a lot of discipline in the country. In India I can see that people have been disciplined in the lockdown," he said.