Rohit Sharma gives this explanation after playing a poor shot to get out to Nathan Lyon at Gabba

But the Test vice-captain Rohit said he just didn’t connect well. “I reached where I wanted to reach, just that I did not connect with where I wanted to hit the ball. I was trying to pierce that long-on and deep square-leg fielder, I just did not connect with the way I would have loved to. I actually liked what I did today, before coming here, we knew it would be a good pitch to bat, of course, there would be bounce and carry to the keeper, but this is what I enjoy,” Rohit said during the virtual press conference.

“Once I was in and I had played a few overs, I realised there was not much swing so I did little adjustment there, after that, it was an unfortunate dismissal, it is something I won’t regret. I like to put pressure on the bowler once I am in and that is my role in this team to keep putting pressure on the bowlers. The run-scoring has been slightly difficult for both the teams so someone needs to put their hand up and think about how to put pressure on the bowlers,” he added.

Elaborating further on his point, Rohit said: “In doing that, there is a chance of making mistakes but you should be ready to accept that. It was a plan so I actually have no regrets about playing that shot, it is something I like to, Nathan Lyon is a smart bowler, he bowled into me so I was not able to get the elevation.”

Rohit said pacer T Natarajan understands his bowling and it is something that the Indian line-up really needs. India had bundled out Australia for 369 in the first innings as Shardul Thakur, Natarajan and Washington Sundar scalped three wickets each. Natarajan had taken the wickets of Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Hazlewood.

“Natarajan is a bright prospect for us, he showed a lot of discipline when he played for India in the white-ball format. He was coming off a good IPL and he carried that confidence into the white-ball series against Australia. Then to have a Test match like that, first spell he bowled was very accurate, if I have to judge,” said Rohit.

“Somebody who is playing his first Test, we can really say that he understands his bowling really well, it is something that India wants. Natarajan was trying to do what was expected out of him and I think he looks like a bright prospect for sure,” he added.

Talking further about Natarajan and Washington Sundar’s performance, Rohit said: “They have played some first-class games coming into this Test. Playing against Australia in Australia was never going to be easy. But they showed a lot of character and they understood what the team expected them to do.

“We wanted to make sure that once Saini walked off, how we can contain and put pressure on Australian batsmen by not giving them easy runs, run-scoring can be easy here as it is a good pitch. Playing their first match, they showed a lot of character and discipline and yes, the team was expecting them to do something and both Sundar and Natarajan did that really well.”