NEW DELHI: Rohit Sharma’s brilliant century in the third ODI against England at Lord’s ended in a losing cause, but the India opener took time to speak about his special partnership with Virat Kohli after the match. Rohit’s 138 off 110 balls kept India in the chase of England’s 387/3, but the visitors eventually fell 27 runs short and lost the series 2-1.During the innings, Rohit and Kohli once again stitched together an important partnership. The two have now scored more than 8,000 runs together in ODIs and registered their 21st century stand, the second-most by any pair in ODI history behind Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly’s 26. The Lord’s ODI also marked another milestone as Rohit and Kohli became the first Indian pair to play 400 international matches together.Speaking in a video shared by the BCCI, Rohit said their long journey together has helped build a special understanding in the middle.“We played our entire career together. So, you know, it was nice to have him in the middle. We’ve had a lot of partnerships. It’s always fun batting together. We understand each other so much. And yeah, it’s always nice in the middle, bouncing off ideas, try and see what we can do. So, there was a lot of conversation that was going around in between when we were batting,” Rohit said.Rohit and Kohli already hold the record for the most international matches played together by an Indian pair, having gone past Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid’s tally of 391 matches.Overall, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene lead the list with 550 matches together, followed by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene (426). Rohit and Kohli are now seventh on the all-time list with 400 appearances.Rohit said he always enjoys playing in England because of the challenge the conditions offer.“Yeah, look, I love playing in England. There’s no doubt about it. The atmosphere, the ground, the pitches. When you turn up here to play any sort of format, it challenges you in different ways. And that’s what, as a cricketer, you want. You want to be challenged all the time. And yeah, I had my time in the middle. I enjoyed it. But again, like I said, a little disappointed with the result.”The India opener admitted the team was disappointed after failing to complete the chase but stressed the importance of improving as a unit.“We couldn’t finish off the game and get the result in our favour. But yeah, we have to move on from this and try and see how we can get better. And see what better we can do as a group. Not just individuals. It’s about the group. The collective effort from the group is needed. And that’s what I think the team should be focusing on,” he said.
