Durban, Jan 9: Rohit Sharma, India’s Man-of-the-Match, in their T20 outing against South Africa believes his familiarity with the conditions helped him to do well in the game at Durban. Sharma also said he took his time, rotating the strike, before he got down to playing the big shots.

Excerpts from an interview:

Well done. I think that the two million dollars yesterday was an inspiration:

Not really. I think it was pretty important to start the tournament on a good note and I am very thankful it came at the right time.

You’ve been in and out of the Indian side. It’s a great opportunity here to cement your place isn’t it:

I think it’s a very good opportunity but I will take every opportunity as it comes. I don’t want to put pressure on myself thinking about all that. I think it will be a challenging tournament. As I said, I am very happy to start it on a good note

How’s your preparation been? When India was playing in SA what were you doing back home?

I was playing domestic games and just before coming I was practicing, because I know the conditions here. Having played before in the IPL and T20 World Cup so I know the condition what it is like in South Africa so I was preparing accordingly.

And what is the pitch like, little bit on the slower side here to adjust?

I think it was on the slower and lower side. I think it was not easy you know to go and play a shot directly. So I have to take my time and knowing that we have a powerful batting line-up down the order as well, so my plan was to just go and rotate the strike.