Bangalore: Rohit Sharma played an innings of his life as he went on to score 209 runs off 158 that helped India win the seven-match ODI series against Australia by 3-2. Ecstatic about his scintillating knock at M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday, Rohit Sharma said that he never really thought of 200 initially but he was very happy to get that score.
Rohit Sharma, who was Man of the Match and Series, said he just wanted to stay on the crease for as long as possible. “Right from ball one I wanted to stay there. It was a small ground with a fast outfield and we knew it was going to be a big-scoring game. Keeping the wickets in hand was the key and we always spoke about building small partnerships. We had two big ones today,” said Sharma.
“It's been our strength throughout the series, so it was heartening to see that. You never know, even 380 wasn't looking comfortable. Credit goes to Dhawan and Virat as well, they played very well throughout the series. We showed real character. I'm enjoying opening at the moment and just want to keep continuing and want to continue fresh. I'm looking forward to the West Indies series now,” said Rohit, adding that he didn't know about the 16 sixes record that he made at Chinnaswamy.
Meanwhile winning captain MS Dhoni admitted that there was a moment when they were under pressure after losing 2-3 quick wickets. “It became a little difficult and we wanted to sore 300 and explode from there. 383 wasn't on our mind but Rohit batted very well,” said Dhoni, adding that the ground had the reputation for batsmen hitting more sixes than fours, especially when one see Gayle and Virat batting in the IPL.
“It's difficult to contain the batsmen here. Our Batting has been fantastic. Openers have done very well but it would have been good if middle order got a few more runs. Apart from the one game, we scored in each and every game. We have to improve in bowling, something we wanted to do on a team level also. We have chased 350+ twice but nobody talks about the Australian bowling line-up. Fantastic series overall, Australia played very well and the wickets were good. The crowd that came was fantastic,” said Dhoni.
Meanwhile George Bailey said, “We went pretty close there but outstanding innings from Rohit. We were probably ahead at one point of time but didn't have enough wickets. Faulkner and Maxwell played excellent cameos. We knew it would be tough. They are the No. 1 and it's been a wonderful series. We will take plenty of positives. We are certainly on track now.”