When in flow, Rohit Sharma can make batting look ridiculously easy. In 2019, it made a prettier picture 2,442 runs across three formats in international cricket, including five hundreds at the World Cup.

In a dream season, the most important for the stylish batsman was establishing himself in Tests after being promoted to open in a final bid to tap into his talent after earlier disappointments in the middle-order. That hardly seemed likely when he didn’t get to play in the West Indies series, despite his World Cup heroics.

It wasn’t easy for the India team management to keep an in-form Sharma out of the Test team, and they took the gamble of asking him to open. The result: 556 runs in five Tests at an average of 92.7.

“For me personally, it was a good one. The big positive was opening the batting in Test cricket,” Sharma said in an interview. “I was not worried about scoring runs, only about getting that opportunity. And whatever happens with that opportunity, I wanted to take that in a positive way and stay in the right frame of mind.”

The key to Sharma’s effortless batting flick off the hip for six high into the stands or on-the-rise hit over long-off lies in his mind. It’s all due to his temperament, he says. “If you are cool, calm and composed, the performance will come. That is what I was trying to do before the South Africa Test series and it helped me a great deal. Staying that way helps me. I try and do that every time.”