Image Credit- BCCI
On the second day in Rajkot, Ben Duckett matched the
bowling attack with a scorching century, but Rohit Sharma and the Indian team
management told them to “stay calm”. After that, England collapsed
quickly after Duckett’s wicket, going from 260 for 4 to 319 all out in reply to
India’s 445 for the first innings. In the second innings, India’s bowlers
caused another collapse in England, securing a commanding 434-run victory and a
2-1 series lead.
“When you’re playing Test cricket, it’s not
played over two days or three days. We do understand the importance of
extending the game for five days,” Rohit said at the post-match
presentation. “They played well, to be honest, and played some really good
shots. They put us under pressure a little bit there, but look we’ve got class
in our squad, when it comes to bowling. Obviously, the message was to stay calm
because when things like that happen, it’s actually easy to drift away from
what you want to do as a team. But I’m really proud of how we came back the
next day, stuck to what we discussed, and when those things happen, it’s a
delight to watch.”
Following a family issue, India’s most seasoned
bowler, R Ashwin, was forced to depart Rajkot after the second day of play. In
spite of Ashwin’s absence on the third day (he returned to the team on the
fourth), India went on to record their highest-scoring Test victory.
“Lot of turning points. Once we won the toss…that was actually a good
toss to win because we know in India, how important it is to win the toss and
put runs on the board,” Rohit said. “And the lead that we got was
very, very crucial for us. And the way we came out and bowled after that
onslaught from the English batters was important for us to stay calm. The
bowlers actually showed a lot of character and not to forget we didn’t have our
most experienced bowler as well. But for this group to come out and get the job
done in that fashion was really, really proud to watch.”
The fact that Ravindra Jadeja was promoted to No. 5
instead of rookie Sarfaraz Khan, according to Rohit, was partially due to the
middle pair’s left-right combination. India recovered from 33 for 3 thanks to a
204-run partnership between Rohit and Jadeja at the fourth wicket, the highest
in the game. Jadeja and Rohit both scored hundreds, and Sarfaraz struck a
brilliant 62 off just 66 balls.
“Especially for this game, we thought he’s got so much experience playing
this format,” Rohit said of Jadeja’s promotion. “He’s scored a lot of
runs as well of late in the last couple of years. We always wanted that
left-right batting as well. Sarfaraz being Sarfaraz we know the quality that he
brings and we wanted him to just have some time before he gets into bat.