FINAL HURDLE

LONDON: His only Test hundred outside the sub-continent came at The Oval in 2021 and India captain Rohit Sharma said that one never feels “in” as a batter in English conditions but somehow develops an intuition as to when to attack the opposition bowling.

Ahead of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia starting Wednesday, Rohit, who has enjoyed the best batting average in his team (50 plus) since the inception of the tournament, stressed that there is no substitute for grind on English tracks.

“Look, I think, in England in general, it is pretty challenging conditions for batters. As long as you are prepared to have a good grind, you can have success,” Rohit said during ICC event ‘Afternoon With Test Legends’ here on Sunday.

Rohit, who was India’s best batter in the four Tests against England in 2021, spoke about his personal experience while seated alongside Australia skipper Pat Cummins, Ross Taylor and Ian Bell. “One thing I realised in 2021, you are never in (set) and the weather keeps changing. You need to keep concentrating for longer periods of time and you will get that intuition, when it is time to take on the bowlers. More importantly, you need to be out there and you have got to understand what your strengths are,” Rohit said.

For someone who is big on data and analytics, as one has seen him with Mumbai Indians and Team India over years, Rohit said that knowing the scoring pattern of former players, who have had success at the Oval, would not be a bad idea.

“I am not going to try and emulate them (successful players) but it would be a bit nice to know their pattern of scoring. What I have found out at The Oval is that the square boundaries are pretty quick.”

Switching formats for over a decade now, Rohit knows it is hard but enjoys that challenge, and his ability to tweak his technique as per requirements.

“That (change of formats) certainly has been the challenging factor. You know you play multi-formats. Mentally you have to be very adaptable and tweak your technique. You need to be talking to yourself and get mentally ready.

“A lot of our younger guys have not done that. A lot of us are doing it for many years and bringing out best performances,” Rohit said. He might have won five Indian Premier League trophies, one T20 World Cup and a Champions Trophy but for the 36-year-old, Test cricket remains the ultimate format.

“It keeps challenging you. You want to be in these situations. You look forward and as a person, it brings the best out of you. In last three-four years in Test cricket, we have had good success. Now it is about crossing that final hurdle and giving that confidence to youngsters,” Rohit concluded.