Tried to be what I wasn't: Rohit

Rohit Sharma must have sensed it. After Rahul Dravid's name was announced in the list of probables for the Champions Trophy, everyone expected the out-of-form Sharma to make way for the former skipper in the ODI squad. And on the eve of the selection committee meeting, the 22-year-old was aware that the first blip of his young career might just be round the corner.

Now that he has been dropped from the squad, Sharma, who is in Chennai with the Mumbai team to play the Buchi Babu tournament, looks back at his 41-ODI-old career, in which he's managed just 695 runs at an average of 24.82. "Whatever I have done so far, I'm happy with it," he told The Indian Express over the phone. "But I think, I could have done better in One-dayers."

He cannot blame the selectors for not giving him enough opportunities as they persisted with him despite his poor run with the bat. Sharma, however, failed to fulfill the promise he showed in Australia in 2007-08, when he had scored two half-centuries.

After a decent show in the World T20 initially, Sharma, who opened the innings in Virender Sehwag's absence, failed to fire in the crunch matches. His poor run continued in the West Indies where he aggregated just 15 runs in three games. "I think I tried to be what I wasn't. I was too keen to score runs quickly but I'm learning from my mistakes," Sharma admitted.

Having realised what went wrong, Sharma now wants to rectify that and look ahead. "I never think of selection when I go out to bat. I never think about it too much. It's better to concentrate on things that are in your hands. My job is to bat and score runs," he said. "And that is the only thing on my mind right now."