‘Important to let Dhawan be himself’ – Rohit Sharma

It was quite a performance from India on Sunday, 23 September, in their second match-up against Pakistan in the tournament.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had reduced Pakistan to 58/3 when Sarfraz Ahmed (44) and Shoaib Malik (78) lifted the total. But after them, like before, there wasn’t much of note, and Pakistan stopped at 237/7.

India’s reply was stellar. Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, the openers, both struck centuries and India cantered to victory in just 39.3 overs, for just the loss of Dhawan, run out in the 34th over.

“All of the guys showed great amount of character and it was important. We spoke about it that whatever performances we have had in the past, we have to leave it behind, it is a fresh day and we need to give it all and that is exactly what the guys did,” said a visibly pleased Sharma, who scored 111* in 119 balls, after the game.

“It was challenging conditions, we knew it was going to be tough to come out and repeat the performance [of the earlier fixture], but again I don't want to take any credit from all the 11 players who were out on the park today.”

Sharma and Dhawan, who hit 114 in 100 balls to keep his fantastic form going, have been India’s regular limited-overs openers for a while, and added another big one to their record together – this one worth 210 runs.

“With Shikhar, I don't need to speak much,” said Sharma. “It is important to just let him be himself, and we have batted enough now to understand each other's games. We all know how important the first 10 overs are and not losing wickets upfront puts us in the driving seat.”

For the record, it was the fourth-highest opening partnership for India in one-day internationals, and the 13th three-figure stand between Sharma and Dhawan.

As for Dhawan, his agenda is to make the most of the form he is in, form that has helped him score 127, 46, 40 and 114 in the tournament so far.

“I enjoyed my game and I've been in good touch and just wanted to make the most of it,” he said. “It's a good batting track and I have enjoyed the way I was batting. It was sensible and liked the balance of it. Pakistan have got a good bowling attack and I knew that as openers we have to stay because they have got good pace and once I got set, I kept carrying on.

“I wanted to be sensible with my shots as I've thrown it away in the past. That's the good thing for me and it's nice to have that balance. When you play 20 overs, it gets easy.

“Rohit played an amazing knock today and he's very good at converting those 50s into 100s and that's something I've learnt from him.”

Superb as the Indian openers were, the win had been set up by the bowlers. Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, the two wrist-spinners, picked up two wickets each, while Jasprit Bumrah, who also got two wickets, gave away just 29 runs in his 10 overs.

“He (Bumrah) has matured as a bowler. He understands his bowling, and it is very important for any individual to understand his game, and he understands it very well,” said Sharma. “He understands the fields he needs to set and on a wicket like this, you need to keep it clever, you need to keep it tight and that is exactly what happened.

"Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar to start with, he kept the pressure on the Pakistani batsmen and it was important to keep the pressure on at all times. We never wanted to let them off the hook, it was important to keep it a bit tight and again, our spinners have been magnificent throughout the tournament, they kept taking wickets in the middle and when you keep doing that, that's the amount of runs you are going to chase.”