Rohit Sharma puts past behind

New Delhi: Languid strokeplay might make his batting look easy but India batsman Rohit Sharma says making an international comeback after a six-month injury-forced layoff is easier said than done.

Rohit was out of competitive cricket for six months (from October 2016 to April 2017) after a major hamstring injury. But since his comeback in ODIs during the Champions Trophy, he has scored three hundreds in 10 games apart from a few half centuries.

“Comebacks are not at all easy. After a major surgery, the difficult part is to conquer the inner demons. It’s all in the mind. Only an individual can overcome his fears. My batting may look easy to the eye but trust me, it’s not that easy,” Rohit told an agency in an interview.

Did he have fears that may be while stretching for a run or coming down the track to a spinner, he might get injured, Rohit laughed and said: “The best part that happened to me was IPL started just after I completed my rehab.

“So while captaining Mumbai Indians and taking those on-field decisions, I couldn’t think about what happens if I get injured.

“And when I was playing for India, my mind became blank while batting. There was no place for any negativity,” said the 30-year-old, who has 5737 runs from 163 ODIs, with 13 hundreds to his credit.

His supple wrists and sublime strokeplay may be a delight for fans but there is a lot of homework involved.

He explained how he successfully read mystery spinner Akila Dananjaya after his six-wicket haul in the second ODI against Sri Lanka during the recent away series.

“The half century was special but I didn’t face Dananjaya much during that match. I was out only one over after he was brought into the attack. But in the next two games, I got hundreds and I had no problems playing him.”
So what did he do differently? 

“I realised that the speed of his googly was on the slower side while leg-breaks were faster. His off-break was easily negotiable. One thing we must know about these ‘Mystery Spinners’ — they are bound to bowl loose deliveries and Dananjaya is no different.”

He is expected to play a vital role in the upcoming series against Australia but the Indian vice-captain believes in preparing for “conditions rather than opposition”.

“To each his own but my process of preparation is based on conditions not opposition. It won’t be any different when we face Australia,” Rohit said. 

“In international cricket, the core group in most of the teams would remain same. So you know what’s expected but they will operate in different conditions which is why the homework about conditions is the key,” added Rohit.