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Cricket Players‘Three-figure mark wasn't in my mind’: Rohit Sharma on his maiden overseas hundred, calls it his ‘best one’
Rohit Sharma called his first overseas century in Oval ‘special’, adding that he accepted the challenge and played according to the situation.
Rohit Sharma’s maiden overseas hundred in the second innings of the fourth Test against England had set the launchpad for India’s historic win at The Oval. He formed some crucial partnerships with KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara as India posted a mammoth 466 run, setting a 368-run target for the hosts. In reply, England were bowled out for 210 and Kohli & Co won the game by 157 runs to go up 2-1 in the series.
Rohit’s spectacular knock of 127 earned him the Player of the Match award. Speaking at the post-match presentation, he called his first overseas century in Oval ‘special’, adding that he accepted the challenge and played according to the situation.
“I wanted to be on the field but getting that hundred was special, 100 behind we knew how important it was to give them a target of 370-odd. A great effort from the batting unit. It's my first overseas hundred, so obviously my best one. The three-figure mark wasn't in my mind, we knew the pressure on the batting unit, but kept our heads down and batted the situation,” Rohit said.
“Not been preying on my mind, just try to get the team into a good position. With 30, or 80, or 150-plus. I used to bat middle-order, but I know the importance of opening. Once you're in you've got to make it count. It's important to embrace the challenge, back in Durham we had time off to look at our training and technique, after WTC we had 20-25 days and that was a game-changer. Batted well as we’ve been challenged, especially at Leeds, but that can happen,” he added.
Rohit did not take the field on the final day as he had some issues with his left knee. Speaking about the injury, Rohit said, “It looks good at the moment. The message from the physio is ‘assess every minute, don't look too far ahead’.”
Team India will now travel to Manchester to play the fifth and the final Test of the series which begins from September 10 at Old Trafford.
