Rohit Sharma gave India plenty to celebrate in Guwahati, but he chose not to explain the thought behind one of the most unusual moments of his innings. The former India captain struck 101 from 75 deliveries against the West Indies in the second ODI on Wednesday, helping India chase down 406 with eight wickets in hand and 39 balls remaining. His 35th ODI century arrived from 72 balls and came during a 255 run opening stand with captain Shubman Gill, who remained unbeaten on 223 from 133 balls.
The unusual gesture immediately drew attention, but Rohit was unwilling to disclose what it represented when broadcasters asked him about it after the match.
“I keep that celebration for myself,” Rohit said when asked about the celebration in the post-match discussion with the broadcasters.
The moment had also caught the attention of Ravindra Jadeja during the match. Ravi Shastri later asked Rohit about their conversation after cameras showed the pair speaking during India’s second innings. It’s for me. But he was quite innovative. He wanted me to come and slide and jump, and that’s how he wanted me to celebrate. “We were not thinking too much about the scoreboard, to be honest. Gill was fantastic on the other side, very much in control of his batting the entire innings, and to stay not out till the end was fantastic to see as well,” he added.
“Yeah, he was asking me what was that about,” Rohit replied. “I said I’ll tell you in the dressing room. I said, ‘Man, after 50 overs of fielding and batting almost for 25-30 overs, I was never going to do that.'” “We just wanted to continue to keep batting,” Rohit said. We were just trying to play according to the merit of the ball, and we kept stitching the partnership, which was, I think, when you’re chasing a target like that, you need to keep stitching big partnership, and that’s what we did.
