Press Trust Of India
Colombo, August 31: There was a lot of criticism from all quarters when Rohit Sharma was moved down the batting order from one drop to No. 5 but the talented right-hander is of the opinion that ‘no one owns any particular batting slot’ in this team.
Rohit ended the Test series as the second highest run-getter (202 runs) behind skipper Virat Kohli with his second half-century in the series.
Asked about his preferred batting slot, Rohit said, “Nowhere it’s written in the world that No. 4 belongs to this person, No. 3 belongs to that person. As a batsman, you want to bat as up the order as possible to get more opportunities, face more balls and score big runs. But the management felt I should bat at No. 5 and they came and spoke to me and I was okay with whatever they wanted.”
The Mumbaikar admitted that all the tracks in this Test series has been of different nature. “Well, this series was totally different when we started playing in Galle. The wicket there was completely different. Then again at the P Sara, the wicket was different and again at the SSC. When you bat at different positions, you have to have a different mindset. I feel I should have done a bit more with my bat but I will definitely take what I have done,” he said.
With Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a career-changing century, the pressure is back on Rohit but he is not unduly perturbed.
“The pressure I feel will be on the management and the captain to decide the playing eleven, not on me. I have to play my game when I get an opportunity. That’s how I look at it,” he signed off.
