Rohit Sharma's perfect ending for a collective cause

Kanpur turned into a happy place for Rohit Sharma after a slow start, much like the three-match One-Day International series against New Zealand. In his third one-dayer at Green Park against South Africa in 2015, he got a 150. Two years later, he fell three runs short of replicating it. The blistering 147 came after four innings of little, before which he had a 125 against Australia in Nagpur. The thing with being in form, and a batsman as delightful as Rohit, is the expectation to score big in every game.

Ahead of the ODI series against New Zealand, Rohit had talked up the threat that Trent Boult would pose. But after he fell to a ball that swung in late in Mumbai to the left-arm pace of Boult while attempting to heave him out of the park, his caution in Pune was validated. Rohit took his time to settle in but ended up popping a regulation catch to Colin Munro at short square leg without getting a move on against Tim Southee this time.

In Kanpur though, Rohit had arrived. New Zealand should've read the signs as early as in the tenth over when he launched Adam Milne into the midwicket stand with his signature pull.

By his own admission, after going over replays of his past innings with the batting coach and the team management, Rohit seemed to have narrowed it down to his head falling over a little earlier than it should, which meant he was trying to hit the ball while tipping over. His sessions with Sanjay Bangar, India's batting coach, seemed to have paid off rather well, and in a series finale, after he started off by exercising caution, to gradually turning it around into an onslaught that New Zealand's bowlers had no fix for.

"You need to focus on little things," Rohit said after India's six-run win and his Man of the Match performance. "I was trying to do that. Watching my video, talking to our batting coaches. I like to follow my routine, which is to just understand the nature of the wicket and what shots you need to play. For example, in Mumbai the ball bounces nicely, whereas that is not the case here. Shot selection is very important at different venues. Here it was all about seeing off the new ball and then just carrying on the partnership, rotating the strike and things like that.

"I started off very cautiously because I understand the threat of Southee and Bolt with the new ball. They bowl those wicket-taking deliveries any time. So I have to be more than careful to handle that threat. And once the shine of the ball was gone, it was about me not making mistakes and getting out. I have played here a few times now and I understand the nature of the wicket. So unless you make a mistake, you are not going to get out. And the most important thing about my batting today was the partnership. Because once you get stuck in the partnership, it's always difficult (for the bowlers)," he said.

After Shikhar Dhawan failed to make the most of a good track, skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit added 230 runs for the second wicket - a record stand which saw the pair tick all the right boxes. Not just did they keep the scoreboard ticking, but having Kohli at the other end, prompted Rohit to flow into his natural game without taking too many risks before they were in a position of absolute control.

The loose balls were put away, they rotated the strike effectively, didn't let the New Zealand bowlers apply pressure by accumulating dots, and found those odd boundaries, all without giving the opposition any opportunity to make inroads. So the key was in fending off the first few overs successfully, and build on that foundation, which Rohit orchestrated to perfection.

"I knew their new ball bowlers can bowl that wicket-taking delivery any time so I had to be careful, which I was. In the first game as well, but when you are in good form, you like to play shots and get the team to a good start. Then in Pune I took my time and got out. Here it was a different situation and a different innings. I took a little bit of time initially, and then having played much cricket here I understand the nature of the wicket. You get value for your shots. Outfield is lightning fast. It was just about timing the ball really well."

The outfield being lighting fast and the presence of dew in the evening wasn't in favour of the Indian bowlers. Yet, Jasprit Bumrah contained New Zealand's batsmen beautifully with his guile and variations that kept the batsmen in check with him conceding just 20 runs in his first seven overs. He went for 15 runs in his eighth as Henry Nicholls took him on, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar at the other end eventually conceded 92 runs in his quota of overs. Yet, it was the last three overs that made the difference as India defended 30 runs in three overs, with 15 required off the last.

"Today we were under pressure at times but that is the hallmark of this team - to come back from tough situations whenever we play and respond to that situation really well," Rohit said. "We knew that it wasn't going to be that easy because there was a lot of dew on the field. But our bowlers did exceptionally well to come back every now and then. So that's what we expect as a team from this bowling unit. Whenever they are put under pressure, they know how to come back. It's not happened once, it has happened many times now.

"I think we have the two best death bowlers. If you look at the last series against Australia, the way they have bowled, you have to praise them a lot. Because if you look at Australia's batting, with their power hitting, those were the two bowlers who got us back most of the times. If you see the last five matches against Australia, you can clearly see that things have been pulled back by these two guys.

"Even today there was so much dew, the ball was wet, to be able to defend on that kind of wicket, with two set batsmen, I thought we are talking about two best death bowlers in the world currently. So many times they have made the game for us. On this wicket, in these conditions, only 35 required in four overs, it should have been made easily. It is only because of these two that we could pull the game back."

It was the perfect end for India, who had come so close to conceding a series after six successive bilateral series wins. More so for Rohit after his scintillating century. The last time he had scored that 150, India succumbed to a five-run loss. The heartache, this time, was New Zealand's to bear.

(CRICBUZZ)