Pretty much sealed the game for us – Rohit Sharma on his record partnership with Shubman Gill
India chased a record total in the second ODI to pocket the series against West Indies as Guwahati witnessed Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma make history. Gill hammered an unbeaten 223 while Sharma smashed 101 as the two added 255 runs for the opening stand, running away with the chase which looked downright daunting at the start.
Talking at the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma opened up on the raw feelings of getting his 35th ODI century while also discussing knitting together a match-defining stand with Shubman Gill. He also explained the mindset behind how India approached the 406-run chase.
Reflecting on his century, Sharma said, “I keep that celebration for myself. Ah, it's for me. It's for me. Some things are just meant to be with you. It's not to be shared. So yeah, that was for me.”
Shedding light on his chemistry with Shubman Gill in the center, Sharma added, “Yeah, absolutely. I think, like you said, wicket was good. We just wanted to continue to keep batting. We were not thinking too much about the scoreboard, to be honest. We were just trying to play according to the merit of the ball, and we kept stitching the partnership, which was, I think, when you're chasing a target like that, you need to keep stitching big partnership, and that's what we did. Gill was fantastic on the other side, very much in control of his batting the entire innings, and to stay not out till the end was fantastic to see as well.”
Decoding the challenges of batting second after fielding for so long in the heat, Sharma said, “Yeah, again, that comes down to concentration. You've got to keep telling yourself that do not throw it away, because here conditions are challenging, but that's where I wanted to just bring my experience of playing for so many years. You just don't want to give it that easily, try and stay as much as possible in the game, and we knew that the pitch was good, and we needed big runs from the top order, and that's exactly what happened. We had a very good partnership at the top, and that pretty much sealed the game for us. 250-odd run partnership there. Like I said, it was amazing to watch Gill on the other side, and yeah, glad we could finish on the high.”
He concluded by talking about his century celebration, stating, “Yeah, he was asking me what was that about. I said I'll tell you in the dressing room. It's for me. But he was quite innovative. He wanted me to come and slide and jump, and that's how he wanted me to celebrate. I said, man, after 50 overs of fielding and batting almost for 25-30 overs, I was never going to do that.”
