London: Indian vice captain and opener Rohit Sharma made a profound statement with his determined century in Southampton in India’s opening World Cup match against South Africa.
The team is heavily reliant on its top order to deliver and Sharma came up with a patiently accumulated innings contrary to his stroke-full natural game.
After beating the world number three Proteas team, India now take on familiar enemies Australia in Oval, where its recent record has not been too great.
Also at the back of the mind will be the loss to Australia in the home series in March.
Brushing aside concerns on those fronts, Sharma said the key to teams doing well in Oval would be assessing and adapting quickly to conditions.
It has been raining here since Friday but the showers finally gave way to some sunshine on Saturday afternoon.
However, it remains very windy. The Oval wicket is a used wicket where three matches have already been played in this tournament.
“I think, in the World Cup, you just have to turn up on that day and play good cricket. What we have done in the past is past, so I think we as a team totally believe that we have to be particularly better on that particular day. Yes, we've had good rivalry between the two teams in the last few months. We played really good cricket in Australia, they played really good cricket in India. So it's going to be a great contest. We have to quickly assess the conditions because it is playing a huge part in this World Cup as we have seen”.
He said the team has discussed its plans and ready for a resurgent Australia on Sunday.
“We have done our preparation. We have had a good chat about what we want to do as a team, and yes, probably we all are ready for the game tomorrow.”
Speaking about his own performance in the last match against South Africa, Sharma said the key was respecting the conditions, which helped him anchor India’s innings through the chase on a spicy Southampton wicket.
He rated it as one of his best ODI hundreds of the 23 he has scored so far.
“ I think it was a massive confidence booster in terms of heading into the tournament. All the cricketers in this tournament want to start well, and it gives you that momentum going into the tournament. And yes, particularly talking about that particular innings, I felt it was not the way I would like to play. Something unusual for me, but obviously you have to respect the conditions, at times the bowlers, as well, which is probably the reason I would say, probably one of the best innings.
Sharma said he would rate that knock among the best at the top because it was not the easiest of the conditions.
He said for India, it was important for top and middle order batsmen to stitch partnerships.
He hailed the partnerships he had with KL Rahul for the third wicket (85) and MS Dhoni (74) for the fourth wicket.
“This world cup will be about crucial partnerships: My aim is always to bat as many balls as possible and see where I can take the game. And also the reason I said is because once I cross a certain score, I tend to just take on from there. We've got to stick to partnership as much as we can and try and seal the game off there.”
Asked whether Indian pace bowlers would use the short pitched stuff to maximum use against Australia after West indies did so, Sharma said that the Indian pacers were capable of it, but the team would assess the conditions in the game and then see whether such a tactic could be used against the Aussies.
“Short ball for any batsman is not easy, even the best guy who can pull the ball, who can hook the ball will find it difficult. We understand that. And probably we have the bowling attack to do that. Having said that, you don't want to be carried away with that. We've got to understand the conditions and make sure that you keep the batsmen guessing all the time”.
He gave full marks to KL Rahul as number four batsman after the match against South Africa, saying the manner in which he batted responsibly and with confidence shows he is comfortable in that position.
Before the WC there was huge debate on who would be India’s number four with chief selector MSK Prasad saying all rounder Vijay Shankar would be used on that spot. Clearly,Indian team management had different ideas.
“He looked very good, very compact, didn't panic at any given situation, because it was a crucial partnership. He feels very confident in his game, and he knows exactly what needs to be done in this particular condition and at that No. 4 position because more often than not he will be coming to bat at No. 4. Being an opener, it's a good advantage for him to get used to that condition quickly and he's got the technique as well to bat there.
