Hitting against the tide, Indian captain Rohit Sharma is back in form after a prolonged period of tumbling performances across formats in international cricket, making the swashbuckling century in the second ODI against England at Cuttack on Sunday. Rohit led India’s charge with the bat as England put together a hefty total of 304 runs on the board. The skipper produced a show of effortless, splendid batting, indicating that really he was not out of form during the rut. Rohit maintained his composure even while batting in the nineties because he flaunted the utmost ease behind the bat, as perhaps nerves did not get the better of him.
At 96 runs rubied in his personal score, Rohit stepped down the wicket with plenty of flair and lofted England spinner Adil Rashid straight for a six. Even the celebration for his century amounted to a mooted one, with fans coming to understand that it was because of his not so recent success with the bat that he celebrates less.
Rohit and Gill were at the fore of this brilliant performance by India as they put on a partnership of 136 runs for the first wicket, which laid the foundation for India’s eventual triumph by the margin of four wickets. India took a match-winning lead of 2-0 in the series after chasing the target of 305 runs set by England to win.
The victory is even more special as Rohit set the stage for returning to form with a blistering 119 off 90 balls to claim the Player of the Match award. He ripped apart England’s bowling by combining patience with power while trying to remain in the crease and read the offers opening the opposition’s plans.
“It was good, and really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team. Important game with the series on the line, but I broke it down to pieces about how I wanted to bat. Longer than T20s and shorter than Tests, and I wanted to break it down,” Rohit said in the post-match presentation
“I wanted to bat as deep as possible, and that was my focus. Looking at the pitch – when you play on black soil, it tends to skid on a bit, and you have to show the full face of the bat initially. Then they bowled into the body and kept it on the stumps, and that’s where I prepared my plan and tried to access the gaps,” he added
