In England, you see the pitch and plan your innings: Rohit

It was opener Rohit Sharma's majestic 140 against arch-rivals Pakistan which put India on course for a convincing 89-run win in the World Cup encounter at Old Trafford on Sunday. It was for the seventh time in the showpiece event that India got the better off the Green Brigade.

In the latest episode of Chahal TV, produced by BCCI, Rohit was seen revealing the secret behind his swashbuckling knock in the most awaited clash of the showpiece event.

"In England, no matter how the wicket is, flat or with something for the bowlers, you have to take time initially for the first six-seven overs to see how the pitch behaves and then plan your innings accordingly," Rohit said.

"The team has a lot of stroke-makers who like to play their strokes, so it becomes very important for us to start cautiously. I think we did that and initially, our plan was to see off the new ball and then go thapathap (take the attack to the bowlers)," he added.

Chasing a challenging 337-run target, Pakistan's Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman shared a century stand for their team before spinner Kuldeep Yadav dismissed the duo in quick succession to put India back in the contest.

Rohit further revealed that it was Chahal who suggested to him to change the ends for the spin twins and it did the trick for India as Rohit then passed on the message to skipper Virat Kohli.

"Yes, Kuldeep bowled very well. But I'd like to credit you for suggesting to change ends. I had a word with Kohli and the ends were changed. Kuldeep got good drift from the other end so I would like to say, Chahal can become a captain," Rohit said laughing.

After the brilliant performance against Pakistan, the Indian players have been given a two-day break to switch off, relax and come back stronger before their next game against Afghanistan on June 22 in Southampton.

--IANS

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