'Rohit Sharma's Firm Message to Teammates: 'Do your job, no excuses''

In the second ODI against England, Team India skipper Rohit Sharma showcased a brilliant innings and shared his thoughts on his approach. The stunning century helped Rohit regain his rhythm ahead of the all-important Champions Trophy. With his recent lean patch in international cricket, some critics had doubts over his ability to perform in ODIs, a format which he has previously mastered. However, Rohit's dominating performance silenced his critics and reinstated his reputation as a proficient ODI batsman.

Chasing a 305-run target, Rohit once again displayed positive intent right from the start and smashed the England pacers for big shots to set the foundation for a big win. The 37-year-old smashed 119 runs off 90 balls, embellished with 12 fours and 7 sixes. His knock helped India chase down the target quite comfortably as they won the match by 4 wickets with 33 balls left. The win also boosted India's morale ahead of Champions Trophy as they have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

After ending his run drought, Rohit said that the focus is to get better as a team and advised the players to do whatever the captain and coach suggest to them.

“I said after the last match as well, we want to get better as a team and as players. As long guys are clear what they are supposed to do and whatever the captain and coach is saying, if they execute it then there's not much to think about,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation after being named Player of the Match.

Rohit shared the details about how he has decided to approach batting in the 50-over format differently from the other two, where the time spans are completely different.

"It was good and really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team. Important game with the series on the line but I broke it down to pieces about how I wanted to bat. Longer than T20s and shorter than Tests and I wanted to break it down. I wanted to bat as deep as possible and that was my focus," Rohit said.

The star batter endured a tough red-ball season where he struggled to get going against pacers against New Zealand and Australia. However, he proved that it's not the same case in the 50-over format, where he has time and again shown his dominance.

“I wanted to bat as deep as possible”

Talking further about his plans for the Cuttack surface, Rohit said that for the black solid surface, he was prepared to play the shots with the full face of his bat, which worked in his favour.

“Still, you need to assess and bat according to the situation. I wanted to stay focused and bat as deep as possible. Looking at the pitch when you play on black soil, the pitch tends to skid on a bit so it's important that you show the full face of the bat. Then they were trying to bowl into the body and not give room so I prepared my plan as well,” he concluded.

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