Over number 11 and Shakib Al Hasan, who is fielding at point, drops a Rohit Sharma slash that comes whizzing towards him at shoulder height. There is dejection on Shakib’s face and Rohit realises he has survived a chance. Sharma was batting on 21 off 28 balls at the stage and he hardly gave Bangladesh another chance in the 27 balls thereafter. But what he did was hit the ball to all parts of the ground to add 60 more runs after that drop at a strike rate of over 200. For Rohit though, it was just another day out in the field displaying all facets of his game - laying a platform for the team, piercing the gaps with precision and accelerating at will as though he had a gearbox that could shift gears upon demand. Not just did he accelerate the scoring rate till the end, in fact, he motored his way to get the team to a par score. “My key is always assessing the conditions and playing according to the requirements of the team at a given point. I try and play according to that and it is really helping me of late,” reasoned Rohit to BCCI.TV when asked about his ability to push the pedal. “Everything boils down to the basics. You cannot forget your basics even when you are playing T20 cricket. Sometimes you come across a pitch which is not suited for going and playing your shots and you have to bide your time and see what is happening. “It is not always that easy to go about playing shots. You have to create a foundation behind you and pace your innings accordingly. That was my idea - to lay a foundation for my innings and the team. I know, once I have that foundation going, I can play my shots and switch gears. The moment I walked in to bat, I saw the pitch and realised that it wasn’t a 160 kind of a pitch. The idea initially was to get to 140-150, and we knew that we will end up getting more than that if we were thinking about that target.” Sharma shared two half-century stands - one with Yuvraj Singh and the other with Hardik Pandya. Rohit credited Yuvraj and Pandya for their individual efforts. “Those were two crucial partnerships. We lost three wickets in a hurry and it was important for us to get going and keep the game moving forward. The half-century stand that me and Yuvraj Singh got was also important at that stage. A wicket at that stage would have pushed us down in the game and it would have been really difficult to get back after that. Credit to Yuvraj Singh as well, to come and bat the way he did. Hardik too changed the momentum of the game completely when he walked into bat.” Rohit’s batting display and India’s disciplined bowling efforts helped the team cruise to a 45-run victory and start the tour on a winning note. The opening batsman believed the win was an important one. “It is always important to start the tournament on a fresh and positive note. I am glad that I was able to put up that performance for the team and we could achieve that win. It was an important win because Bangladesh can be dangerous. The way they have played in the past, you never know what is coming from them.” On a personal front, Rohit is going through a rich vein in form. He was the toast of the Australia tour along with teammate Virat Kohli and Rohit has gone from strength to strength since then. Rohit believed he was getting better with each passing tournament and his game is certainly developing in the right direction. “Experiences play a huge part in this game,” he said. “The more cricket you play, the more experience you get as to how you need to build your innings, what is required by the team and identifying your game etc. These things have helped me a lot in the past. Batting at the top of the order has put up added responsibility on my shoulders. Being a top order batsman, it is a responsibility to get the team to a good score and make winning matches a habit. “I don’t want to look back too much on my form. I just want to carry it to every tournament I play,” continued Rohit. “I am not harping on what has happened in the past, I want to look forward. We did pretty well in the T20Is against Australia and Sri Lanka, but for me, it is important that I look forward and not think too much about what has happened before. I am a very positive person and someone who looks as to what is coming next. Pakistan is next and I am looking forward to it.”