Sydney [Australia], October 27 (ANI): Indian star batter Rohit Sharma was presented with the 'Impact Player of the Series' award following his magnificent performances with the bat during the recently-concluded ODI series against Australia, which also included an unbeaten century and a 168-run unbeaten partnership with Virat Kohli during the final Sydney ODI.

The Australia series was a story that highlighted Rohit's immense grit, determination and match-winning abilities. From overcoming a rusty single-digit score at Perth to grinding it out to produce a valuable 97-ball 73 while not playing his natural at Adelaide to firing a stormy 121* in 125 balls at Sydney, the 'Hitman' experienced it all in this 202-run series and showed the world that he still has his eyes on the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup and all fitness and cricketing goals would be ticked no matter what.

Following the game in the dressing room, head coach Gautam Gambhir was all praise for the bowling effort, particularly of pacer Harshit Rana at Sydney, who took a four-fer and lauded Rohit and Virat for their partnership too.

'We spoke about turning up today, wanting to do something special. We wanted to be desperate, we wanted to be hungry and put our bodies on the line. I thought we did everything, we ticked all the boxes. I thought the bowlers were outstanding --the kind of Australia had. Restricting them to 237 was great. Special mention to Harshit. He had an outstanding spell. What I wanted to say is to stay humble, stay grounded and keep working hard,' said Gamb

'Then with the bat, the partnership between Shubman and Rohit was important. The partnership between Rohit and Virat was outstanding and clinical as well. Special mention to Rohit, another hundred, outstanding and most importantly, you finished it off. Virat as well. It was important from the team's point of view how clinical we could be in these cases, and we were very good,' he added.

It was the team's strength and conditioning coach, Adrian Le Roux, who handed the award to Rohit, who soaked in the applause from his teammates.

Ro-Ko shook off the rust and lack of rhythm of the first two ODIs, which were lost, launching a full-blown assault on Australian bowlers during a successful chase of 237 runs. The 'Hitman' slammed an unbeaten 121*, while Virat made a return to form with a rock-solid, risk-free 74*. While performances and lack of rhythm raised concerns if they could maintain their rhythm till the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup, the icons have fired the first warning sign, that they are not done yet. With some impeccable stroke play, calculated risk-taking, they had their first century partnership since 2020.

During the first innings, Harshit Rana's brilliant 4/39 restricted Australia to 237 runs, fumbling on a fine platform at 183/3. Matt Renshaw made a fine 50-odd, but did not get much support from others.

Australia secured the series 2-1, but this Rohit-Virat partnership at Sydney was the biggest positive for Team India coming out of the series. (ANI)