Fitness routine key to consistency: Rohit

Rohit Sharma steered India to a seven-wicket win over Australia with a fluent century in the fifth One-Day International in Nagpur on Sunday (October 1). Having scored two consecutive half-centuries, Rohit ensured he didn’t miss the three-figure mark, treating the packed Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium to a wonderful display of batsmanship.

Rohit was in exceptional touch as he went from watchfully circumspect to breathtakingly brilliant in no time, bringing up his 14th ODI century as India chased down the 243-run target in 42.5 overs to wrap up the series 4-1. He took 14 balls to get off the mark but after that, the cuts and pulls, flicks and drives flowed freely, on a pitch that was on the slower side.

“Ever since I started opening, I knew it was important that I get runs,” Rohit, the limited-overs vice-captain, said after the match. “The team really depends on the start that we give as openers. It's really important and it adds to our success. I have never thought that I have to do certain things. I just go out and try and enjoy the moment. That’s what I've been doing in the past few years and in the future as well, it’s not going to change. I just have to go out and assess the conditions and see who the opposition is and plan accordingly.”

Staying in the present has certainly helped Rohit, who has been on a roll since returning from a thigh injury suffered during the series against New Zealand in October last year. He has scored 902 runs in 15 matches at 69.38 with four centuries since his return during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in June. Although he was rested for the West Indies tour, Rohit returned to play in Sri Lanka and scored two successive hundreds and a fifty.

On a balmy evening in Nagpur, Rohit, who overcame a bout of cramps on his way to 125 off 109 balls, credited his fitness routine for his marked improvement.

“Since I started opening, I knew that I would be on the ground for 100 overs, and the fitness routine has never changed,” he revealed. “You've got to understand your body really well. And we've got special people who give us the direction we need to go and understand the body. The fitness routine has been planned for each individual and we try and stick to it. We know that over the next few years, it’s going to be quite a lot of games we have to play and we have to understand and stick to that programme given to us.”

It also helped that Rohit had Ajinkya Rahane, his Mumbai team-mate, at the other end on Sunday. Following Shikhar Dhawan’s withdrawal from the squad to tend to his ill wife, Rahane grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring his fourth consecutive fifty. Prior to this series, Rohit and Rahane had opened in 13 matches, but a 49-run stand was the best they could manage. In this series, however, the duo put up three consecutive century stands, and Rohit credited their communication in the middle for their recent success.

“We have played together a lot of cricket in Mumbai and we understand each other. We know each other's game really well and we talk a lot in the middle, about when we need to take risks,” said Rohit. “These are the little things that really help in building a partnership. I guess in the last three games we've got hundred-run partnerships and that’s only through the communication we've had in the middle. It's important that you keep talking to your partner, making him comfortable and it goes the other way as well.

"He has played really well throughout the tournament, scoring four fifties in the last four games and he's shown a lot of maturity as well handling the new ball. Whatever conditions you play, handling the new ball is pretty important and he did that pretty well.”

Words of praise were also reserved for the bowlers who bounced back from tough situations throughout the series. In Chennai, when India’s batsmen failed to put up a big total, it was the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal that stepped up to set up a 26-run win. There was an encore in Kolkata, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar setting up Australia's top order perfectly before Kuldeep starred with a hat-trick. Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit Bumrah’s tidy death bowling kept Australia to 293 for 6 in Indore. On Sunday, it was Axar Patel who made the most of the conditions to scalp 3 for 38, while Kuldeep and Kedar Jadhav played a brilliant support act.

“We've played in these conditions so many times and they understand that our bowlers need to keep sticking to their strength," said Rohit. "One boundary here and there doesn't make a difference. That's been their attitude throughout the tournament. We go out in the middle to take wickets, not look to get the strike-rate down.

"All the bowlers who participated in this tournament have gone with this mindset of taking wickets. When you're doing that, you will obviously strike at some point during the game and pull the match back towards you. That is what these guys have done, all the spinners and the fast bowlers as well. All the compliments should go to them as well, the way they have bowled as a bowling unit throughout the tournament."

Barring KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, who was called up as cover for Axar for the first three ODIs, India fielded all the other members of the squad. Rohit believed the manner in which everyone rose the occasion underlined India’s strong bench strength.

“You've seen it throughout the tournament, whoever has gotten an opportunity they have come and grabbed it and it only shows that we've got guys who can come up at any given point, take up the challenge, perform and just go out and do their job. We missed Chahal today, Axar came in, got wickets. Kuldeep bowled pretty well. Ajinkya has scored consistently throughout the tournament and it only goes to show that this team is a solid team and future is bright.”