Carlton Tri-series: Rohit bats with assurance when his mindset is to score

Rohit Sharma celebrates his century against Australia at the MCG yesterday

Melbourne: Only 10 days ago, batting in whites at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Rohit Sharma received half a dozen half volleys which he just pushed gently to mid-off.


Rohit Sharma celebrates his century against Australia at the MCG yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

However, switch the format to limited overs, coloured clothing and put him in a role that he wants to play, it was the Rohit we are accustomed to seeing. The first half volley Rohit received was lofted over the ropes at long off for a six. It was only the seventh ball he had faced.

Test cricket woes
In Tests, Rohit was guilty of playing to the situation rather than batting as per his school of batting. But once Rohit had donned the coloured clothing, he started to play the ball on its merit.

The other standout feature of Rohit's batting was the ability to rotate the strike. With Australia not able to plug the gap between point and the solitary slip, Rohit was able to dab the ball to third man at will.

He had managed to score 22 singles by simply deflecting the ball behind point. It is his get-out-of-jail shot, but because it is a difficult shot to play in Test cricket on bouncy tracks, Rohit seems to get himself into trouble.

Ever since Rohit started opening the batting for India, he had set himself to play a certain amount of balls, but as he showed yesterday that once his frame of mind is about scoring runs rather than occupying the crease, he tends to play with more assurance.

India lost the key wicket of MS Dhoni which prevented Rohit from moving into fifth gear. But full credit to the Mumbai batsman because he held back his onslaught to ensure India's lower order was not exposed too early.

It was another sign of his maturity in the 50-over format. With the World Cup around the corner, it must be positive news for India that Rohit is in the right frame of mind.