He had more to say.
“Obviously, before I played this game, there were many nervous moments but I told myself that I will only focus on the things which I have to do on the field, because there were expectations, many close friends and family members were watching. Even the crowd was expecting me to score big,” he went on.
He didn’t need to mention his father. It’s a much scripted story.
The 28-year-old had spent time with Anil Kumble in the series against New Zealand working on his “intent”. The coach had mentioned to him that he should not be worrying about his strike rate. “I was scoring a lot of runs in domestic cricket and Anil bhai said it is time that I convert these 70s and 80s into big hundreds. He told me to bring the same intent that I show in domestic cricket,” he said.
Kumble assured him that things would work out. To his good fortune, he had a familiar batting partner at the other end to communicate with.
