India vs Windies 2018: Don't Think About Scoring Hundreds Or Double-Hundreds: Rohit Sharma

India opener Rohit Sharma, on Monday, said he enjoys batting at the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium after slamming 162 against Windies in the fourth ODI.

It was an happy homecoming for Rohit Sharma on Monday. After scoring 152 in the first ODI, Rohit had failed to deliver in the second and third, getting out for just 4 and 8.

Well, Rohit could not have asked for a better venue than his hometown to get back to form after two poor knocks.  And he made the most of it by slamming his 21st ODI ton in the crucial fourth ODI against Windies. The latest knock only extended Rohit’s love affair with the Brabourne Stadium.

In 2007, he had become the first Indian to score a T20 century at the same venue.  Rohit had scored 101* off just 43 balls against Gujarat.

A couple of years later, he had scored his first and only first-class triple-century till date at the same ground. The right-hander had scored 309 not out against Gujarat in a Ranji Trophy game.

And almost a decade later, he achieved another milestone at the ground, becoming the first player to score an ODI century at the Brabourne Stadium.

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Ambati Rayudu also scored a ton as India beat Windies by 224 runs to take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series.

Speaking at the end of the game, Rohit opened up on his game, Rohit opened up on his love-affair with the Brabourne Stadium.

“I have played a lot of cricket at CCI and I have always enjoyed batting here,” Rohit said. “It is a good pitch and you get value for your shots. It has a fast outfield, so you don’t need to try and hit too hard. You can find the gaps, and that’s what I was looking at.

“When you come to a ground where you have played enough cricket, you feel confident of going into a match. That was my mindset before walking into bat. I understand the nature of the pitch and what it does when the spinners are bowling. Those things are important. Like I said, I’ve had lot of opportunities to play here and it was going about and doing the same thing,” he added.

The way Rohit was going, the fans were expecting another double ton from him. But he was out for 162. However, the three-time ODI double-centurion said he didn’t think of a fourth at any point.

“While batting, I don’t think about scoring hundreds or double-hundreds. I just want to go bat, score runs and get the team to good positions,” Rohit said. “The three double-hundreds that I’ve got, I had never thought about getting them. Even today, in fact, Rayudu was telling me that I can get a double-hundred. But I was just trying to focus on my batting and not think about how I’m going to get to double-hundred. I wanted to score runs and make sure that we get enough runs because CCI can get tricky while [defending]. But we bowled well to get them out.”