There were always going to be apprehensions over how Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane would fare as openers in the recently-concluded series against Australia.
While Rohit Sharma entered the series on the back of two centuries in Sri Lanka, Rahane sat out four matches and could score only five in the only game he played against Sri Lanka.
The first two games only escalated the apprehensions as the duo could add only 11 and 19. However, the Mumbai stars soon dispelled the perception with century-plus stands in the following three games, the latest being the 124-run partnership on Sunday (October 1) that helped India to win the match by seven wickets and clinch the series 4-1 to reclaim the number one rank in the ODI’s.
Speaking after the win, Rohit, who scored 125, credited the time he spent playing with Rahane for Mumbai for a reason behind the duo’s successful partnerships.
“We have played together a lot of cricket in Mumbai, and we understand each other, and we know each other’s game really well, and we talk a lot in the middle, about when we need to take risk and when we needn’t,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference on Sunday (October 1).
The partnership in the third ODI did not begin on a fluent note, but Rohit said those factors help in building a partnership. While Rohit initially found it tough to get going, playing 14 consecutive dot balls, Rahane kept the scoreboard ticking with occasional boundaries which also eased the pressure off his partner.
“These are the little things that really help in building a partnership. I guess in the last three games we’ve got hundred-run partnerships and that’s only through the communication we’ve had in the middle. It’s important that you keep talking to your partner, making him comfortable, and it goes the other way as well,” Rohit said.
“And he [Rahane] has played really well throughout the tournament, scoring four fifties in the last four games and he’s shown a lot of maturities as well handling the new ball. Whatever conditions you play, handling the new ball is pretty important, and he did that pretty well,” he added.