ICC World Cup 2019 | Just try to keep my head straight and get my team to the finishing line, states Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma has said that he does not think about getting records much but focuses on handling the situation at hand as best as he can and leading his to victory in a particular match. He further discussed his batting strategy and heaped praise on Lasith Malinga ahead of his retirement.
Rohit Sharma is simply going through the golden patch of his career. Three consecutive centuries in a stage as big as the World Cup is every batsman’s dream and Roht Sharma is living it. He has an astounding 1203 runs in the calendar year already at an average of 60-plus, with the majority of them coming in the quadrennial tournament.
An important feature of his innings in the mega event so far has been the way he has paced them out and adapted to the situation. His aggregate strike rate for the tournament is an impressive 98.78 and every match has seen him accelerating at just the right times according to the team’s needs.
“The shot selection becomes important once I am in. I try and calculate how I want to go forward based on that. There has to be some discipline in your batting and I have learned that from my past,” man of the match Rohit Sharma said while collected his award, reported News18.
The 103 against Sri Lanka was his fifth hundred of the campaign so far, making him the player with the most centuries in a single edition of the tournament. He now only needs one more to beat Sachin Tendulkar’s all time record of most hundreds in World Cups and doing so while also see him break the great man’s record of most runs in a particular World Cup. Currently, Sharma has 647 runs under his belt at an average of 92.43 and leads the run scoring charts for the tournament ahead of Australian opener David Warner.
“I come out thinking I have not played any ODIs or scored any hundreds. That is the challenge as a sportsperson. I know if I play well all these things (records) will come along the way. My job is to keep my head straight and get my team to the finishing line,” Rohit added.
Also captain of the IPL champions Mumbai Indians, Saturday’s match saw him face off against his teammate Lasith Malinga. The 35 year-old has been an instrumental figure in propelling the side to success in the T20 league and has been an equally important persona for his national team. His match against India was his last ever in a World Cup and Sharma had some kind words for him.
“He has been a champion bowler for Sri Lanka and then for Mumbai Indians. He has shown it over the years how the teams rely on him. I have seen him in close quarters and the cricket world will miss him,” Sharma concluded.
