Battling for consistency

“He came up and told me, ‘You have something different in you and I know you will do well. If you don’t perform, it will upset me’,” said Rohit, on how the new Indian coach has boosted his morale.

And the Mumbai lad is making sure he doesn’t let his coach’s confidence down, not at least for lack for effort. From Dhaka, Rohit flew straight to Bangalore for a four-day batting session at the National Cricket Academy. With the Indian team heading to Pakistan tomorrow to play at the Asia Cup, Rohit doesn’t want to miss this chance to impress.

“I knew I wouldn’t be able to practice in Mumbai as it was raining heavily here. And there is no point just sitting at home,” Rohit said after landing back in Mumbai today, adding: “Now, I’m confident of putting up a better show.”

With most of the team members enjoying a small break after the hectic schedule of the past few months, Rohit kept himself busy at the NCA. The fast bowlers camp was already underway, and Rohit pointed out that that helped him test himself before the crucial tournament. “Munaf Patel, Pankaj Singh and a few other other state pacers were present. I used bat out with them in the mornings and later practice with the bowling machine,” he explained.

With Dav Whatmore being around at the camp too, Rohit didn’t miss having a word with the well-known Australian coach, who is now the NCA director. “We didn’t have a long chat, but he just told me to concentrate better,” he said.

Rohit will be touring Pakistan for the first time and is making sure he gets an idea of how the pitches there are likely to behave. “I had asked Yuvraj and Dhoni about the type of wickets in Pakistan and they told me they would be like the ones we have in India.”

And then he added another positive streak: “You know, except in this last tri-series, whenever I’ve played against Pakistan, be it at the under-17 level or higher up, I have always performed well.”

Quizzed on what went wrong at the Bangladesh series, Rohit replied: “I’ve never played on pitches with black soil. As the ball got older, it was really hard to sight it. It happens in cricket, but this was new for me. But this is how I will learn.”