Rohit Sharma has served up sizzlers in the shorter formats of the game.
In the past two weeks, leading up to the final match of the ongoing India-Sri Lanka series at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, he has been compelling to watch, exhibiting a vibrant brand of cricket that has lit up the limited-over series soon after Virat Kohli completed his Test engagements with knocks of 243 and 50 at the Kotla in New Delhi and left for Italy to get married.
Getting a look-in for the second Test against Sri Lanka in Nagpur, the elegant Mumbai right-hander was far from anxious for a batsman recalled after a gap of thirteen months. He hit a classic drive to the boundary off off-spinner Dilruwan Perera from the first ball he faced. He continued to bat with panache for a little over three hours, scored a remarkable 102 and remained unconquered. More significantly, Rohit showed the ambition to excel in a format of the game in which he has not been able to seal a permanent spot.
After being handed over the reins, he has been menacing with the bat. Rohit raced to his third double-century in ODIs in Mohali and at Indore on Friday, he once again went after the Sri Lankan bowlers to equal South African David Miller’s world-record 35-ball century in T20Is.
The Indian team is blessed with some outstanding batsmen across formats, but what distinguishes Kohli and Rohit from the rest is that they do not let mediocre bowling go unpunished.
Rohit, playing in his 70th T20I, executed shots at will, leaving an equally gifted stroke-player like K.L. Rahul awestruck at the other end.
There are only five batsmen in T20Is with a scoring rate of eight-plus an over (benchmark of 60 innings). Shahid Afridi has a strike-rate of 9.05, Brendon McCullum 8.17, David Warner 8.35, and A.B. de Villiers and Rohit 8.11 each.
Among the Indians, Kohli has a scoring rate of 8.27 in 51 innings and Yuvraj Singh 8.18 (51 innings). Rahul has a scoring rate of 9.05, but has played only 10 innings.
The shortest form of the game is all about entertainment and numbers.
Rohit has played his part by touching a T20 high of 91.53 per cent in boundaries (12x4, 10x6) in his 43-ball 118 (strike-rate 274.42) at the Holkar Stadium on Friday.
Aaron Finch had held the record of 82.05 per cent (156, 11x4, 14x6 vs England, 2013). Glenn Maxwell (75.86 per cent, 145 n.o., 14x4, 9x6 vs Sri Lanka, 2016).
Rohit’s fearless approach has seen him produce some electrifying shots, his wrists coming into play and caressing the ball to the fence.
A flick off the front front summed up the coordination between mind, feet and hands. Players like him who are crowd-pullers are unique to T20.
The teams (from):
India: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, M.S. Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Mohammad Siraj, and Basil Thampi.
Sri Lanka: Thisara Perera (Capt.), Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Asela Gunaratne, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dasun Shanaka, Chaturanga de Silva, Sachith Pathirana, Dananjaya de Silva, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, and Dusmantha Chameera.
Match starts at 7 p.m.
