Sydney, Oct 26 (IANS) After hitting a match-winning 121 in India’s nine-wicket win over Australia in the third ODI, senior opener Rohit Sharma said his intention was to bat as deep as possible and look at the chance of taking the game till the end in front of a packed Sydney Cricket Ground.

Rohit led the charge for India, chasing 237 with an unbeaten 121 and anchoring the chase with characteristic ease, while sharing an unbroken 168-run stand with Virat Kohli, who scored a fluent 74 not out, as the duo guided India home in style.

“I enjoy playing in Australia in general. This was the perfect day, again, to get a big one and get the team through. We had the opportunity, the bowlers did a fantastic job of restricting them first up. With that score, I thought they were a little under par. Credit has to go to the bowlers, the way they bowled.”

“Once we started to bat, obviously upfront with the two new balls, it was a bit challenging. The pitch was slightly misbehaving at the start and we knew once the shine of the ball is off, it gets a little easier. So that was the plan. I wanted to bat as deep as possible and see how we can take the game till the end,” said Rohit in a video posted on bcci.tv on Sunday.

Rohit and Shubman Gill had a 69-run opening stand before Josh Hazlewood found a faint edge to dismiss the Indian captain. From there, Rohit was near-flawless en route to his 33rd ODI century, striking 13 boundaries and three sixes in a commanding unbeaten 121.

“Sometimes you can think so many things, but it doesn’t come off. But this was the day where I thought, okay, this is what I have to do, and it just perfectly fit into my plan. Obviously, when you play in Australia, you got to plan and play. So all the plannings, understanding that I had from the previous experience, I used it here.”

“A fantastic partnership (with Kohli). I think we’ve not had a 100-run partnership for a long time. It was good to get that partnership from the team’s perspective, looking at how we were placed at one point. We lost Gill early there. Not early, I mean, we still managed to get 40-45 and then Gill got out. So obviously, we knew with Shreyas not being there, there is an added responsibility on the batters and it was a great partnership.”

“We enjoyed every moment we spent out there. There was a lot of chatter between the two of us. We played so much cricket together. We understand each other really well. So it was just about taking the game, understanding what is required at that point. It definitely comes with the experience as well, so much experience between the two of us. So we used it pretty well,” he elaborated.

Reflecting on Australia winning the series 2-1 and pushing India hard in the series, Rohit praised the hosts’ competitive spirit and consistency. “Look, they are a tough opposition. We have seen that over the years, how they play their cricket. They really enjoy their cricket. They really enjoy being out there in the middle. It’s nice to compete with guys like these. They never let anything come to you easy.”

“You always have to work really, really hard for it. Having been here, playing with these guys so many times, it’s very important to stand up against them and get the best out of whatever experience that you have against these guys. They are a quality team. There is no doubt about that.”

Despite the series loss, Rohit remained upbeat about the team’s progress and singled out seam-bowling all-rounder Harshit Rana’s performance as a major positive. “So, unfortunately, we couldn’t win the series, but I think it’s still a very relatively young team. A lot of the guys haven’t been here, and played white ball cricket.”

“So we can take a lot of positives also from here, especially Harshit Rana, who was playing white ball cricket for the first time in Australia, the way he bowled in both the games. Perth obviously was a shortened game, but looking at how he bowled in Adelaide and also here, was a fantastic effort from him.”

-–IANS

nr/ab