New Delhi: Rohit SharmaHis brilliant century ended in failure in the third ODI against England at Lord’s, but he took some time to talk about his special partnership with England during the India opener. Virat Kohli After the game. Rohit’s 138 off 110 balls had India chasing England’s 387/3, but the visitors ended up trailing by 27 runs and lost the series 2-1.Rohit and Kohli once again formed an important partnership in this innings. The two have now scored over 8,000 runs in ODI matches together and registered the 21st century, the second-highest total in ODI history behind Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly’s 26 runs. The home team’s ODI also marked another milestone as Rohit and Kohli became the first Indian pair to play 400 international matches together.Rohit said in a video shared by BCCI that the long journey they have gone through together has helped build a special understanding in the middle.“We’ve played our whole career together. So, you know, it’s great to have him in the middle. We have a lot of partners. It’s always fun to bat together. We know each other very well. Yeah, it’s always good to be in the middle, bouncing ideas off, trying to see what we can do. So, there’s a lot of dialogue going on in the middle when we’re batting,” Rohit said.Rohit and Kohli already hold the record for most international matches played by an Indian duo, surpassing the record of 391 matches held by Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.Overall, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene top the list with 550 matches played together, followed by Tillakaratne Dilshan and Jayawardene (426 matches). Rohit and Kohli are now seventh on the all-time list with 400 appearances.Rohit said he has always enjoyed playing in England because of the challenging conditions.“Yeah, look, I love playing in England. There’s no doubt about it. The atmosphere, the ground, the pitch. When you come here and play any format of the game, it challenges you in a different way. That’s what you want as a cricketer. You want to be challenged all the time. Yes, I had my time in the middle. I enjoyed it. But again, like I said, a bit disappointed with the result.”The India opener admitted the team’s disappointment at not being able to complete the chase but stressed the importance of improving as a unit.“We couldn’t close the game and get a result in our favor. But, yes, we have to keep going and try and see how we can get better. See what we can do better as a team. It’s not just individuals. It’s about the team. It takes a collective team effort. That’s what I think the team should focus on,” he said.
