After failing to make an impact in the recently concluded Test series against South Africa, India batsman Rohit Sharma has said that he doesn’t need to tweak his game much to succeed in the longest format of cricket.
Rohit, who has done reasonably well across all the three formats in India’s last home season, was preferred over Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in the playing XI against South Africa in the first two Tests that the tourists lost to concede an unassailable 2-0 lead.
The elegant Mumbai batsman though couldn’t quite prove his worth against the fiery Proteas pace attack as he managed to aggregate only 78 runs in 4 innings at a miserable average of 19.50.
"Its not that I don't try much in Test cricket. I give the same effort in all the formats that I play, but sometimes it comes and sometimes it doesn't. But that doesn't mean that you have to change things too much," Rohit said according to PTI ahead of the first ODI against South Africa.
"You've got to believe in yourself, you've come so far and played and got success. I've been in a difficult situation before many times, so for me its all about taking it one game at a time and responding to situations.
"There will always be times when things are not going your way, and then when things are going your way, it is important for you to keep things going," he further added.
India will take on the Proteas in the six-match ODI series from Thursday (February 1) and Rohit Sharma is raring to make his mark in the series.
"I'm not going to talk about Test cricket so much because its over now, and we have a big job at hand winning the ODI series here. Every batsman who will be taking part in this ODI series will have a huge role to play. I'm here to make an impact in the series," he said.
India are currently placed at No. 2 position in the ICC ODI rankings, just a rating point behind South Africa’s 120. If the Men in Blue are to seal the No. 1 spot then they will have to win the series.
"We are very keen to win this ODI series. But it is a long series; it is a six-match series. I think its been a while since we played a six-match series. We cannot think too far ahead.
"It is important to do a lot of things right. There will be times when we will be put under pressure but as a team we have shown that we can absorb that pressure and come back,” Sharma said.
Fondly known as Hitman because of his brutal stroke play in the limited-overs game, Rohit feels that as an ODI outfit Team India are more experienced now as compared to their last South Africa visit in 2013.
"There are two things into it. The first thing is when we came last time, our guys were inexperienced and had hardly played in overseas conditions. It does matter because the lengths that you bowl in India and the lengths that you bowl overseas are slightly different,” he remarked.
"Now all these bowlers have enough experience and they've got the job done in Test series as well. They created history by taking all 60 wickets in the Test series. Our bowling has shown enough courage and it is a plus for the bowling unit. So it will be a different ball game this time around," Rohit elaborated.
When asked about his recent ODI form, Rohit said he is enjoying his time in the limited-overs format at the moment.
"Of course the last six-seven months have been really great. Since the Champions Trophy in England, we've had a great run except for the loss against Pakistan (in the final).
"That was a little disappointing. But yes, since then its been a good run. I hope I can continue and put the team in a good situation. We want to get those victories away from home," concluded Rohit Sharma.
