"Rohit Sharma and I knew we could trust each other" - Virat Kohli
Indian captain Virat Kohli has hailed his deputy Rohit Sharma after the duo put on a blistering 94-run stand to give India the perfect start in the fifth T20I against England in Ahmedabad.
Virat Kohli said that the partnership was based on the 'trust' the two players share as they analysed the match situation and dazzled in their roles of anchor and aggressor, respectively.
It marked the first occasion Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli opened the innings for India in a T20I. Sharma scored a brilliant 64 off just 34 balls, hitting four boundaries and five maximums, reaching his 22nd half-century in the process. Virat Kohli, meanwhile, top-scored with a masterful unbeaten 80 off just 52 balls.
Thanks to the duo's brisk start, India piled up a mammoth 224 runs on the board, which helped the hosts win the game by 36 runs to take the series. Speaking after the match, Virat Kohli termed his own performance as 'pretty good' but expressed more pleasure about his partnership with Rohit Sharma.
"Pretty good (on his own performance). Two games we won, out of the three I scored in, so yeah, good returns. But I was more pleased with the fact that today Rohit and I walked out to bat ,and we were both positive in our intent. We wanted to take the game forward, and we knew we could trust each other in reading the situation, and one of us can play second fiddle if the other takes off. I think that gave both of us a bit more freedom to know when it’s our turn and we will go for it," said Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli was named the Man of the Series for amassing 231 runs in five innings, doing so at a fabulous average of 115.50.
Today it was classic Rohit Sharma on display: Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma, who was rested for the first two T20Is of the series, couldn't make much of an impact in third and fourth games. However, on Sunday, he returned to form as he took on Mark Wood and Adil Rashid with aplomb.
Speaking about the same, Virat Kohli termed Rohit Sharma's innings as 'classic' and called for more such free-flowing and nonchalant knocks from the opener. Virat Kohli also talked about his partnerships with Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 17) and Hardik Pandya (39* off 17), both of whom played key roles in India's win.
"Today it was classic Rohit Sharma, and the way he bats at the top of the order, if he can play like that more regularly and freely and not worry about playing through to 15-16 overs, it’s going to be a lot of damage to the opposition. And then Surya coming in at three and taking the game even further away from the opposition with his counterattack. Then Hardik in the end was beautiful as well. So yeah, I did enjoy all the partnerships and yeah, as I said, it was a very clinical game," said Virat Kohli.
India and England will now move on to Pune for a three-game ODI series, which starts on March 23.