While the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended in a draw at the Gabba, the five-match Test series is equalled at 1-1 with two games left and both sides have areas to look after. Amongst them is the dip in form for skipper Rohit Sharma who has been in poor form.

“Yeah, I have not batted well. There is no harm in accepting that,” said Rohit Sharma at the post-match press conference. “But I know what’s in my mind. How I am preparing myself. All those boxes are very much ticked. It’s just about spending as much time as possible [batting]. Which I am pretty sure I am just there. As long as my mind, my body, my feet are moving well. I am pretty happy with how things are panning out for me. Sometimes those numbers can tell you that it’s been a while since he has got big runs. But for a person like me, I think it’s all about how I feel in my mind. What kind of prep I am having before each game. And how I am feeling about myself. That’s the most important thing.”

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“And I am feeling good about myself, to be honest. Yeah, runs are obviously not showing that. But inside it’s a different feeling,” he further added.

While India were outplayed at the Adelaide Oval, Team India managed to be out of trouble at the Gabba with important batting contributions as well. Rohit also underlined the fighting mentality of his team and applauded the team’s ability to soak up pressure in a tough situation.

“This thing has been, in our team for a while now, that we don’t give up easily, whatever the situation. We want to keep fighting. Even when we bowled in the second innings, we had the same intensity that we wanted to bowl them out for 60-70 runs because we knew they would play their shots and look to score quickly. That gives you opportunities and we get some as well. But we didn’t have enough time to chase 270-280 in 50 overs.”

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“There’s pressure on the other team too,” Rohit Sharma concluded. “Until you put some pressure on the other team you won’t come to know how they react under pressure. When we were here last, we had chased 320-330 [328] on the last day and they’ll remember that in the back of their mind, they know we are capable of chasing like this. Whatever happened today, it gave us confidence ahead of Melbourne. We’re aware we have to start from scratch, conditions are different there and the ball may not move around so much there like it did here. We have to analyse all this and proceed.”