Indian opener Rohit Sharma had a phenomenal series against Sri Lanka in December last year across formats. After that series, his reputation was mitigated after he scored his third ODI double hundred and a 35-ball century in the T20I against Sri Lanka.

Because of his thunderous form, he became the first choice for the team. But he failed to replicate with the bat in the two Tests he played, and then also got out cheaply in the first four ODIs, scoring a total of just 40 runs. But the Indian opener announced his arrival to party after he scored his 17th ODI ton in the 5th ODI at Port Elizabeth as India defeated South Africa by 73 runs to seal series 4-1.

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Speaking to reporters after the match, Sharma said, “I got out in three (four) matches the only brother, how can you say form is bad after three (four) matches? You guys put people in good form after one match, and if somebody doesn’t have three good matches, you say he is in bad form.”

Rohit was named as Man-of-the-Match for scoring 115 runs in the match and he said that he was batting well at the nets and was in a good frame of mind. He elaborated, “I admit the first three matches weren’t great but that happens with everybody. But I was in a good frame of mind, I was batting well in the nets and there was no pattern to my dismissals. That happens in every cricketer’s career.”

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Sharma asserted that 2-3 bad innings do not make someone a bad player. He explained, “Because you have achieved so much, scored so many runs, 2-3 bad innings don’t change tha. Because every day is a new day and what you have done in the past. It is the same thing I am thinking right now. My hundred has gone now and the next game I play, the hundred I scored isn’t going to matter much.”

The Indian deputy skipper continued to pace his knock in a calm fashion as the skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane getting run out on the other end. He said, “Celebration… yaar (friend) two guys got run out before me earlier so there was nothing to celebrate about. I was not in the mood to celebrate. But I knew that if we could get 270-280 it will be difficult for them because we knew the wicket is very slow and anything could happen as our wrist spinners are bowling very well and they have troubled their batsmen a lot. So we knew that 270-280 was a good chance to win.”

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Rohit didn’t shy away from praising allrounder Hardik Pandya who took two crucial wickets of AB de Villiers and JP Duminy as it turned the game in the favor of visitors, he said, “It was very important to win with five bowlers. It will give a lot of confidence to those guys. Hardik has come a long way since he made his debut. He understands what the team expects of him. He is a proper all-rounder. Not a batsman who can bowl or a bowler who can bat, we expect him to come out and bowl 10 overs all the time.”

Speaking about the sixth and the final ODI of the series at Centurion on Friday, Sharma said India will continue to look for a win. He said, “We will approach that game in the same manner that we have approached the last five games. It is important to keep doing the right things because it doesn’t happen in South Africa that you are 4-1 up and we will definitely try to make it 5-1 at Centurion.”