India batsman Rohit Sharma on Thursday applauded his opening partner KL Rahul for executing his plans to perfection. KL Rahul was unbeaten on 127 at the end of day 1 of the second Test between India and England. Sharma missed out on a century and was dismissed for 83. Sharma and Rahul put together an opening stand of 126 runs.

Sharma said that Rahul played with an uncluttered mind during his innings at Lord’s and was at his best while executing his plans to perfection.

“It was probably the best I have seen KL bat and he was in control from ball one till we finished the day today. Very much in control,” Rohit said after the day’s play on Thursday.

He said that at no point did Rahul look confused. “At no given point, it looked like he was confused or thinking too much. He was very clear with his plans and when you trust your plans, it definitely works. I thought today was his day and he made it really count,” the senior player said.

Rohit’s own innings laid the foundation and he seemed happy that both him and Rahul were able to control their minds while facing the new ball and cut down the risky shots.

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“That’s the challenge of Test cricket. You may have lot of shots in your book but when you know that conditions are against you, you have to keep talking to yourself and you have to cut down the shots that are unnecessary specially with the new ball,” Rohit explained.

“Once you play and get the feel of the pitch and conditions, then may be you can try and play some shots. We respect the conditions here and it’s also important to go out and implement plans. That is something us as a batting group have done reasonably well — right from Australia tour to today.” He feels that batsmen now understand their roles better.

The first match of the five-Test series had ended in a draw.