Indian opener Rohit Sharma said
that he has made some adjustments to his batting technique in order to better
adapt to the harsh English conditions during India’s ongoing five-match Test
series against England. Among the changes Sharma has made are staying steady at
the crease and playing the ball closer to his body.

“Yes, you got to change fair bit
and something that I have changed as well, when the ball is moving, when the
ball is doing a bit, there are lot of technical aspect of your game that you
need to bring in as an opener,” Sharma said at a press conference after the
second day’s play during the opening Test at the Trent Bridge, Nottingham on
Thursday.

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“Playing in these conditions is never easy, but you know you
always challenge yourself as a batter to go out and perform when the conditions
are challenging, that is something I am trying to do. I have made some changes
in my technique as well. I am not trying to move too much in the crease, trying
to stay as still as possible keeping the bat closer to the body,” he added.

Rohit said these things can help add value to one’s game, adding
that he is happy about the way he handled the new ball. He also said that
getting ‘set’ in such conditions is very tough, and that one has to treat every
ball as a new ball.

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“So you just got to keep telling yourself that every ball is
different and you just got to make sure that, you think that way all the time
till the time you are in,” he said.

Rohit, one of the better exponents of the pull shot in the
modern day game, was dismissed on 36 when he tried to take on a length delivery
from Ollie Robinson which was caught by Sam Curran at fine leg. However, The Mumbai
Indians skipper defended his decision, saying he “has to play his shots”.

“Like you said it is my shot, so I have to play shots, as we saw
in the first hour of play, we did not get any loose balls and their bowlers
were quite disciplined,” he said.

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He also said that batsmen need to take chances every now and
then to score runs. “So, you have to take your odd chances when the ball is
there, you got to punish them. Of course, you know, when it’s around the time
of close of play, you feel disappointed and that is what I am feeling about it
(the dismissal).”

India started well in their innings, with Rohit and KL Rahul,
who is still unbeaten at 57, stitching a 97-run opening stand before the former
fell prey to Robinson. However, India lost their three experienced batsmen –
Chetehswar Pujara (4), skipper Virat Kohli (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (5), cheapy,
as they were reduced to 125/4, with veteran paceman James Anderson taking two
wickets.

England managed just 183 runs in their first innings, with pace
spearhead Jasprit Bumrah taking four wickets for 46 runs.

Rohit, however, defended the middle-order, saying he is not
bothered by their poor performance, and that their mini-collapse was down to
some fine bowling from the English.

“No, it (the middle order form) is not a concern. I think
if you look at how they got out is actually to good balls, so I don’t see a
concern in that matter, I just feel that sometimes you have to play according
to the conditions and I thought we played the conditions really well to start
with,” Rohit said last night.

“But obviously there will be times, the bowlers will come
back and then you just got to respond to it.

“We know the overhead conditions matters a lot and suddenly
when it was overcast, the ball started to do a little more,” he added.