Coming for the country, it's always a great feeling – Abhishek Sharma on his century

Abhishek Sharma rocked the show for Team India in Mumbai with a mind-boggling 135 from just 54 balls, apart from also taking a couple of wickets. He won the Player of the Match award for his all-round showdown that helped India run roughshod over England.

Talking at the post-match presentation, he decoded his own innings, while shedding some light on how the support staff egged him on. He also underlined the importance of instinctive brilliance, coupling them with a few very special moments that he savoured during the match.

He started with a word about his knock, stating, “It's a special one. Coming for the country, it's always a great feeling. I've told this before as well. When I see it's my day, I always try to go from the first ball. The way the coach and captain have treated me from the first day, they always wanted this intent and always backed me - that was a special thing for me.”

Picking his favourite shots from the innings and how being ahead of the bowler helped him, Sharma said, “When the opponents are bowling 140-150 plus, you have to be ready a second before anyone else. Just wanted to react to the ball and play my shots. When you're hitting a world-class bowler over cover (his shot off Archer), it's always a special shot. The sixes off Rashid were also special for me.”

He concluded by saying, “Yes, remember that (the straight drive). That was the special shot which Yuvi paaji mentioned last day. He should be happy after this. He always wanted me to bat till 15-20 overs. Even Gauti paaji wanted the same thing. So I think today was my day and I implemented well.”