Strange as it may sound, but Ajay Rohera reveals that he got to know that he was six runs away from becoming the highest individual scorer on Ranji Trophy debut only on Saturday morning!
“Honestly, I came to know today that I was very close to that record by Amol (Mazumdar) bhai from whom I learnt a lot last year.
“And I never ever thought that one day I would break it,” said a very composed Rohera in a chat with The Hindu.
Maybe the fact that his father, Raj Kumar, runs an ice cream plant in the nearby town of Dewas helped Rohera keep his cool throughout his record-breaking effort.
And Rohera had every reason to celebrate the moment he crossed the magic figure on Saturday morning. The 21-year-old opener also erased the record of the highest individual score for any Madhya Pradesh batsman — going past the 265 of J.P. Yadav. Interestingly, Rohera was seen gesturing to his dressing room as if suggesting that he would love to bat on for three more overs.
Not surprisingly, captain Naman Ojha and everyone in the squad were waiting near the boundary line to present Rohera a bouquet as a token of appreciation.
“It is a great feeling to score a double century on debut and that too with a record. There was no pressure at all. My coach Sodhi sir encouraged me a lot. Everyone kept telling me to just go out and enjoy, play with usual freedom,” Rohera said while dedicating the record to all those who supported him, especially his parents.
What next? Pat came the reply, “practice tomorrow.”
“Now the record is past. Time to forget it and look ahead and keep improving,” added Rohera.