Kolkata: Having scored a world record 264 in India's 153 run win against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma feels he has a lot more to achieve in the game and an odd failure will not stop his progress.
“Not relieved I would say. I still have a lot more to do. When I was young and wanted to play International cricket, I never thought this would happen,” said Rohit when asked about his breathtaking innings in the post-match presser here today.
“All the records happen along the way. I probably need to work harder and from here on the expectation would be more. I feel I have a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders,” said the Indian, who also became the first man to score two ODI double hundreds.
Rohit, who played his first international game today after an injury lay-off, had struggled against pace bowling in South Africa. He said couple of failures cannot stop his progress.
“You have to accept the failure and success and you keep moving on. That's what I've done. A couple of overseas failures will not stop my cricket. My cricket and my hard work will still remain on the track. I will keep working hard as ever.”
Rohit started his record-breaking innings slowly as he conceded a maiden to Angelo Mathews before stepping on the gas. The Indian opener gave credit to his partner Ajinkya Rahane for his quickfire 24-ball 28 that took pressure off him.
Admitting that he was struggling in the beginning, Rohit said: “Playing after two months from an injury layoff, I was feeling little out of place, I should accept that. The strikebreaking was not happening as naturally as it used to be. I wanted to get stuck in the middle that required a lot of dedication and determination. I had to build the innings as initial 10-15 overs were not easy to play.
“I kept telling myself, no matter what, I need to stay there. Luckily the quickfire innings by Rahane really helped me settle down. I needed to stay there because I knew I can make up any time. I just wanted to make it count. I wanted to make this game special one for me and the team. Getting two double hundreds was really special.”
