While Rohilla smashed a 285-ball 142, Chauhan hit his first Ranji Trophy hundred as the duo added 221 runs for the third wicket. The knocks went a long way in ensuring that Haryana won the game by an innings and 68 runs as skipper Harshal Patel finished with 9 wickets in the game including a fifer in the second innings and Ashish Hooda picked seven.
To make matters more interesting for the Haryana outfit, while Rohilla is just 21, Chauhan is 22. Clearly, the journey has just started for two batsmen who wish to make the bat do the talking this season and ultimately live the dream of representing the country in Test cricket.
Speaking to , Rohilla said that the idea was to stay positive and make the most of the bad balls as the conditions in Lahli are anyway pitted against the batsmen.
"The mind was very clear and I wanted to be positive and make maximum use of the bad balls. I was also focused on rotating the strike as that helps to break the rhythm of the bowlers. It was a great partnership with Shiv (Shivam). We were clear that we wish to make the most of the bad balls," he said.
"You cannot keep thinking of the conditions, keeping the mindset clear is important as the conditions are adverse for batting and if you let go of the bad balls, then the pressure piles on you. Obviously things also need to fall into place and luckily that happened. I am very happy that the first match went well and that will help give me confidence going into the rest of the season."
Chauhan echoed the sentiments and said: "It was my first century so it is special, but just tried to keep the thought of Lahli out of my mind. I have played here before and too much of focus on the conditions can actually distract you and the mind wanders away. So, it was important to keep the focus right and work on my positives rather than thinking about the wicket and bowler-friendly conditions. Just tried to stay positive and watch the ball closely."
Talking about the partnership with Rohilla, Chauhan said that it was important to stay in the present. "It was a difficult scenario as we were batting first and had lost two early wickets. But having played here before, the idea was to not think about what will happen and whether the ball will seam or swing too much. Just tried to keep it simple and take it one step at a time," he smiled.
Both the youngsters feel that the support of the Haryana Cricket Association has helped them focus on their game and the results have started to show. "The support has been brilliant right from the U-14 level. Cannot thank the officials and the coaches enough as they have always been there to guide us at every crossroad," Rohilla said.
( With inputs from IANS )
