Sanjay Bangar praises Rohit Sharma after latter's performance in warm-up match

Rohit Sharma

One of the most heartening outcomes for India of India A’s victory over Sri Lanka in the warm-up game at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) on Thursday, was the blistering hundred scored by Rohit Sharma. The 27-year old, who injured his finger during the second ODI vs England in Cardiff, was not part of the team that won the recently concluded ODI series vs West Indies and has not been named in the squad for the first 3 ODIs vs the Lankans.

But he did his chances of returning to the team for the final two ODIs a world of good by smashing 142 off 111 deliveries, that included 18 fours and 1 six.

Crucially, though, the right-hander showed no discomfort while batting, out there in the middle.

Rohit has worked hard on his game

"Rohit Sharma showed he's absolutely fit while batting. He is a quality player but his match fitness had to be assessed and that was the reason why the selectors had dropped him [from the first three ODIs against Sri Lanka]. He gave a fantastic account of himself,” India’s assistant coach and coach of the India A team for this match, Sanjay Bangar said.

"He has been practising really hard over the last 10 days. And he showed total recovery from that injury while batting and he showed no discomfort at all. He fielded throughout the 50 overs and these are good signs for the Indian team,” Bangar added.

Sharma’s innings helped his side post a mammoth 382 for 6 in 50 overs and he also shared a 214-run stand with Manish Pandey.The Sri Lankans tried to make a match of it but fell 88 runs short of the target.

An overall performance from the team

Bangar also praised the performance of Manish Pandey, who scored an unbeaten 135 off 113 balls. The bowlers also received a word of praise from the former Indian Test opener.

"There were a lot of positives, especially the way we got the partnerships for the opening, second and third wickets. The running between the wickets, the intent was there. We had an eleven while they [the Sri Lankans] were exercising all their options. That was an added challenge and the way bowlers responded was terrific. All of them bowled to a plan and executed well," he said.