Gautam Gambhir praised Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (Screengrab | AFP) Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir had only a “one-word” response to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 168-run stand for the second wicket in the third ODI against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).Rohit led the charge for India, chasing 237 with an unbeaten 121 and anchoring the innings with characteristic ease as he shared an unbroken 168-run stand with Virat Kohli, who scored a fluent 74 not out as the duo guided India home in style.
Shubman Gill Press Conference: Captain welcomes Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after India’s big win
Rohit and Shubman Gill had a 69-run stand before Josh Hazlewood found a weak edge to dismiss the Indian opener. From there, Rohit was almost faultless en route to his 33rd ODI century, smashing 13 boundaries and three sixes in a commanding unbeaten 121.“With the bat, I thought the partnership between Shubman and Rohit was very, very important during that 60 so that there was no loss,” coach Gambhir said in a video posted on BCCI.tv.“And then the partnership between Rohit and Virat was excellent – very clinical too.Click here to watch Gautam Gambhir’s fiery display in the dressing room.“And a special mention to Ro – another 100, well done and most importantly you finished it and so did Virat.”“I thought that was something very important from a team point of view – how clinical we can be in these chases and we were very good,” Gambhir said.After hitting a match-winning 121 in India’s nine-wicket win over Australia in the third ODI, senior opener Rohit Sharma said his intention was to bat as deep as possible and take the game to the end.
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“Overall I’m enjoying playing in Australia. It was a perfect day again to play a big game and push the team forward. We had an opportunity – the bowlers did a fantastic job in restricting them first. With that score I thought they were a bit below par. Credit has to go to the bowlers for the way they bowled.”“Once we started batting, of course with the two new balls beforehand, it was a little bit challenging. The pitch was a little bit misbehaving in the beginning and we knew that once the shine of the ball was gone it would be a little bit easier. So that was the plan. I wanted to bat as deep as possible and see how we could take the game to the end,” Rohit said in a video posted on BCCI.tv on Sunday.
