New Delhi: Indian opener Rohit Sharma, who has been going through a purple patch, once again played a crucial knock to help his team put up a tricky total against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup opener.
In difficult batting conditions, Rohit paced his innings to perfection to score 83 off 55 balls, with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes.
At one stage India lost three wickets under 42 runs, but unperturbed with all that, Rohit kept playing a sensible knock. And once he got his eyes set, he smacked Bangladeshi bowlers all over the park.
Riding on his superb knock India managed to put up a challenging total of 166 runs in front of the Tigers.
Eventually, it proved to be a too big total for the hosts to chase as Men in Blue won the match by 45 runs.
"It's important for me to start afresh and not look back too much. This is a perfect platform for us before the World Cup," said Rohit in a post match ceremony.
When asked about the wicket, the big hitter Rohit said, "It was unusual to see this kind of wicket in this part of the world. It was always important for one batter to bat as long as possible and I told myself I had to do that.
"I was focusing on my basics on this kind of the pitch, use the pace of the bowlers. It was a good wicket and the ball was carrying."
Besides, Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza also said that Man of the Match Rohit took the game away from them.
"Last 15 years I've seen that fans always support us. We were in the game till the 14th over but after that Rohit took the game away from us. We bowled a lot of slower ones later and the ball was not gripping," said Mortaza.
