India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma Explains How Pre-Match Analysis Helped Him Hit A Century In Kanpur

Rohit Sharma was not in the best of form leading up to the decider of the three-match series against New Zealand that India clinched 2-1 in the end by winning the last match in Kanpur. Rohit could only manage to scores of 20 and 7 in the first two matches of the series. While in the first match he fell prey to a Trent Boult in-swinger, the second match saw him being dismissed by Tim Southee when the right-hander tried to clip a delivery off his legs. But the Mumbai batsman came back strongly in the third and final ODI by scoring a brilliant century that helped the hosts post a big first innings score.

Talking about his innings in the post-match presentation ceremony, Rohit revealed that before going out to bat he had an eye on the pre-match analysis done by the commentators and that helped him to sort out a couple of issues that were cropping up in his technique, which had led to his downfall in the first two matches against the Kiwis.

"Pre-match analysis helped me to see where my head was falling. My head was falling a bit earlier, not coming in line. Enjoy playing in Kanpur, have good memories. Today was a perfect day," said Rohit.

Praising New Zealand for being so competitive in the series, Rohit went on to add, "Feels good when your team wins and you contribute in it. Pretty happy with the way we played throughout the series. NZ were competitive throughout. We had to be at our best to win. After the innings break, considering the kind of threat they bring to the table, it's important to understand your game and play accordingly."

New Zealand at one point were running away with the match. Colin Munro helped the visitors get off to a great start and New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson also came to the party as the pitch seemed to have eased out considerably in the second innings.

The dew didn't help India's cause as new ball bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya, who came in as the first change bowler, went for plenty. That left India skipper Virat Kohli with little options. Jasprit Bumrah turned things around for the hosts and was the pick of the bowlers for India. Just when the match was slipping away, Yuzvendra Chahal struck for the hosts by removing both Munro and Williamson in quick succession.

The Indian bowlers showed a lot of heart in the second half of the New Zealand innings and Rohit was all praise for the bowlers. The India opener also revealed that he had a detailed discussion with Sanjay Bangar, who is the batting coach of the team, regarding what was going wrong for him in the series.

"There was lots of dew, credit to the bowlers who stuck to their plans. Every hundred is special. I was just trying to do certain things and it came out pretty well. Was talking to Sanjay Bangar about what was going wrong with my batting. When the things you do off the field pay off, that's very satisfying," said the 30-year-old who was also adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his contribution with the bat.