India opener Rohit Sharma, who has been in a great form and was named Man of the Series after India registered a 3-0 series whitewash over South Africa on Tuesday (October 22), said he wants to take forward this form in the upcoming series as well.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to the management for that opening slot. I can take a lot of positives about how to counter the new ball,” Rohit Sharma said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “The new ball is always a threat, and to be able to counter that will be a huge positive. I can take my game forward from that.”

His maiden double century in the first innings of the third and final Test at Ranchi made the foundation of India’s win, as they put up a huge total before declaring at 497-9 and twice bowling out the visitors to register a convincing win by an innings and 202 runs. To promote him in the opening slot became successful.

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“Yeah, it (disciplined approach in the start of the innings) something that started in 2013 when I started opening in white-ball cricket. I realised you need some discipline at the start of the innings. It’s a template to my batting that allows me some success to my batting. I believe that I can do that for the team. There are lots of aspects that you need to be mindful of when you’re opening. The support of the coach and captain helps,” he said.

“Test cricket is a different game. Getting that big score will give confidence moving forward. I always believe that once you are in, it is only mistakes that can get you out. We saw how hard it was to counter that new ball, and once you pass that stage, it’s all about how you want to pace yourself. I kept telling myself I want to be there, I want to get a big score and take my team to a good position,” Rohit Sharma concluded.