Our batting and bowling approach has remained consistent: Rohit

Having sealed the series 2-0, the third ODI was pretty much for India to fine tune their setup. India did exactly that, giving a well-deserved rest to the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami, bringing in the likes of Umran Malik and Yuzvendra Chahal into the setup. 

But the night was all about India’s batting, especially the way the openers, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave the hosts a stunning start. The two combined to score 212 runs, with both of them getting to their personal milestones as Rohit finally broke his drought, scoring a century after three years. 

In the post-match presentation, the Indian skipper Rohit credited the team, stating that they have been consistent with their batting and bowling approach. Alongside that, he also revealed that the idea to bring Chahal and Umran was to put them under the pump. 

“In the last six games we've done most things right in ODIs. We're consistent in our approach with the bat and ball. Without Siraj and Shami we wanted to give opportunities to other guys on the bench. We wanted to bring Chahal and Umran in the mix, put them under pressure,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. 

Rohit in specific was quick to laud the efforts of both Shardul Thakur and Kuldeep Yadav, who ended with figures of 3/45 and 3/62. The Indian skipper also nicknamed Shardul as the ‘magician’. 

“We had runs on the board, but on this kind of ground no total is safe. We stuck to the plans, held our nerves. Shardul has been doing this for a while, so some people call him 'Magician'. every time I've given Kuldeep the ball, he brings wickets. Just need to give him more games under his belt, because wristspinners get better as they play more.”

Gill’s form has been such that the Kiwi bowlers have found it very tough, and Rohit reckoned that his approach at the top of the order is something that was the need of the hour. 

“His [Gill's] approach is quite similar. He starts afresh. As a young players that is important. He can easily sit on top of his laurels and take it easy, but he doesn't. 20th century means a lot to me, it was important to play long and take the team to a good total,” he added.

With the 90-run victory, India moved to the top of the ICC ODI rankings, going past New Zealand but Rohit said that India weren’t too worried about the rankings. 

“Honestly, we don't talk too much about rankings. It's about winning games and it won't be different when we play the Tests against Australia. It won't be an easy challenge but we're up for it.”