Rohit Sharma tells Dinesh Karthik: Winning series more important to me than hitting a century

Bristol, July 9: Rohit Sharma struck a sublime century to guide India home in the seven-wicket win in the third and final T20 International to clinch the series 2-1 at Bristol on Sunday (July 8).

Chasing a huge target of 199 against England, India romped home in style riding over third T20I ton slammed by the 30-year-old opener.

Kohli lauds entire team

In a candid interaction with his teammate Dinesh Karthik after helping India lift three-match T20I series at Bristol, the Mumbaikar said winning the series was more important to him than chasing a personal milestone.

How did it (getting third T20I century) feel to do in the Blue?

"It feels good to win the series first for that was the only thing in mind. As we lost the second game and this one was a decider, so the only thing that was going in my mind was how we can pull off this victory as a unit. I thought personal or individual milestones will come along the way as long as you are playing. I wasn't thinking much about that. All I was thinking about was after getting off to a good start was that how I can finish this game for us.

Karthik tried to put the India vice-captain in a spot by pointing out the fact that the latter plays well whenever his wife, Ritika Sajdeh, is around in the stands and watches him play. But this time it wasn't the case because she's back home in India.

To Karthik's funny banter of how did he manage to score with his wife not being around, the Mumbai Indians captain replied candidly,"I am sure she must have been glued with the television (and watching me play). She'll be here in a next few days, can't to be here. Having said that, I know she's been closely following the match from India but I would love to be here soon."

You missed out on a well deserved hundred in Dublin last week and today you've completed a century. What was the difference between the two innings?

"See the circumstances in both the games were different. Here we were chasing and in Dublin were batting first, hence we had to score as many runs as possible to post a total. In Dublin, I was trying to score as many runs as possible but here it was my responsibility to ensure that I stand till the end and take our team home."

Rohit was adjudged the man of the match and series for his sensational batting effort in the deciding game and said he assessed the conditions first before going for the big strokes.

"That's the style of my play. Assessing conditions was important at the start of the innings. Once we see off the new ball, we always knew wicket was a good one with short boundaries. Held my shape well. I like to be calm, not to panic too much," he said.

"I know once you're there, you can make it up later. Always important to try and assess the bowlers as well. With four fielders inside, there's always that option to take chances," said Rohit who hit 100 not out off 56 balls.