After the Pink ODI defeat in Johannesburg, Virat Kohli and his boys managed to lay their hands on the Momentum ODI series trophy after beating South Africa by 73 runs in the fifth ODI at the St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday. And it extended India’s lead to 4-1 and powered them to the top spot in ICC ODI rankings.

It has been a tough tour for opener Rohit Sharma until the 5th ODI and he was experiencing a hard time playing against South African pacer Kagiso Rabada. Out of 8 outings, Rohit Sharma was dismissed 6 times by Rabada. This has become a big problem for the Mumbai batsman.

However, India’s vice-captain Rohit Sharma scored a series-winning century in the fifth ODI and hit back at his critics in the media during the post-match press conference. “I got out in three matches only, how can you say form is bad after three matches? You guys put people in good form after one match, and if somebody doesn’t have three good matches, you say he is in bad form,” Rohit said after his first major innings in the tour of South Africa.

“In 2013 it was different. I had just turned into an opener from a middle-order batsman. The way I am batting now, it has evolved a lot. Whatever happened before 2013 and in 2013, forget about that,” he added, referring to his recent past record in South Africa.

Rohit lashes out at the media saying it was just not fair to declare anybody a failure or success on the basis of two or three performances. “I admit the first three matches weren’t great but that happens with everybody. But I was in a good frame of mind, I was batting well in the nets and there was no pattern to my dismissals. That happens in every cricketer’s career,” Mumbai player said.

Rohit scored 115 and played a prominent role in India’s 73-run triumph, which gave the side 4-1 lead in the 6-match ODI series. In fact, Rohit improved a rather disgraceful record in South Africa with his 17th ODI ton. The sixth and final ODI is scheduled to be held on February 16 in Centurion.

Earlier, he had scored only 40 runs in the first four games. The 30-year-old said just as one or two failures don’t define him, one hundred cannot make him complacent. “My hundred has gone now and in the next game I play, the hundred I scored isn’t going to matter much,” concluded India’s vice-captain.

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