Rohit Sharma has made it clear that outside criticism has never dictated the way he approaches his cricket. After silencing doubters with a magnificent century in the third ODI against England at Lord's, the veteran opener said the constant "noise" around his career is something he has learned to live with ever since making his international debut.
The former India captain walked into the series decider under pressure following a lean run with the bat across formats. Questions over his form and speculation surrounding his international future had gathered momentum after a string of modest scores. Before arriving at Lord's, Rohit had managed just 241 runs in his previous eight innings, averaging 30.12 with only one fifty.
He responded in trademark fashion by producing a superb 138 off 110 balls, registering his 34th ODI century and his first-ever hundred at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground. Although the innings wasn't enough to prevent India from suffering a 22-run defeat and a 2-1 series loss, Rohit insisted that his focus has always remained on helping the team rather than responding to outside opinions.
Speaking to bcci.tv after the match, Rohit said:
"Look my job is with the bat, come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That's what I've been told to do since I made my debut so that's what I'm going to do. The noise, since I made my debut, was there. And till the time I'm going to stay here, it's always going to be there. So it doesn't really matter too much. What matters is what I do on the field. Try and contribute to the success of the team."
"That's all my focus is right now. And let the noise be there. If there's no noise, there's no fun. My job is inside, their job is outside. That's how I look at it."
Apart from the century, the Lord's innings also added another milestone to Rohit's long-standing partnership with Virat Kohli. The pair stitched together a 113-run stand, which became their 21st century partnership in ODI cricket, taking them past Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan into second place on the all-time list. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, with 26 century stands, remain ahead.
Looking back at batting alongside Kohli once again, Rohit spoke about the understanding the two have built over the years.
"We've played our entire career together so it was nice to have him in the middle. We've had lot of partnerships. It's always fun batting together. We understand each other so much and yeah, it's always nice in the middle bouncing off ideas, try and see what we can do. So there was [a] lot of conversation that was going around in between when we were batting."
Despite reaching three figures, Rohit admitted the result left him disappointed, especially after India fell short in another challenging chase.
"A little disappointed with the result because I thought we were playing really good cricket. How we started in Birmingham, we played some really good cricket. We fell a little short at Cardiff with the bat actually. It was not enough [of a] score on the board. And then here again there was a massive total to chase. We tried everything we could with the bat but again fell 20-25 runs short."
India's bowling attack also came under pressure during the decider, particularly in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. However, Rohit urged patience with the relatively inexperienced attack, saying the group would improve with more opportunities.
"When it comes to bowling, you've got to understand these guys haven't played a lot of ODI cricket. You've got to give them some time. But yeah, hopefully we can learn from this game, take it into our stride [and] make sure when we come across a situation like that [again], we try and better ourselves."
Rohit also reiterated his affection for playing in England, describing the conditions as one of the biggest tests for any cricketer while stressing that India's priority should now be improving collectively.
"I love playing in England. There's no doubt about it. The atmosphere, the ground, the pitches. When you turn up here to play any sort of format, it challenges you in different ways and that's what as a cricketer you want. You want to be challenged all the time. I had my time in the middle. I enjoyed it, but again, like I said, a little disappointed with the result."
"We couldn't finish off the game and get the result in our favour. But yeah, we have to move on from this and try and see how we can get better and see what better we can do as a group. Not just individuals - it's about the group, the collective effort from the group is needed. And that's what I think the team should be focusing on."
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