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The spotlight has firmly been on Rohit Sharma over the last few months. He has had a tough run with the bat in red-ball cricket. However, it seemed like it was forgotten how good the Indian ODI captain has been in the 50-over format.
He had a stellar run in the 2023 World Cup where he racked up 597 runs in 11 games at a stunning strike-rate of 125.94. India played a mere three ODIs in 2024 which was a series in Sri Lanka and India lost 0-2. On that tour, Rohit was India’s best batter, scoring 157 runs in three innings while striking at 141.44. The next highest scorer for India was Axar Patel with 79 runs.
Such was Rohit’s dominance.
Hence, when the 37-year-old barely fell for 2 in the first ODI against England, it was a rare failure for him in the 50-over format. It was his failures in Test cricket that put pressure on him. But Rohit came out all guns blazing in the second game of the series and announced his return to form in style. He smashed a splendid 119 which came off just 90 deliveries in the second ODI against England in Cuttack. His knock comprised of 12 fours and 7 sixes as he helped India chase down 305 with ease. It was Rohit’s 32nd ODI hundred. His last international ton came back in March last year in the fifth Test against
England in Dharamsala.
The India skipper admitted that he broke his knock down into pieces and said that his focus was to bat as deep as possible.
“I really broke it down into pieces about how I wanted to bat. It’s a 50-over format, a little longer than T20 format and a little shorter than Test cricket obviously – a lot shorter than Test cricket – but obviously you still need to break it down and assess what you need to do at regular intervals and that is what I kept doing. It was important for a batter who gets set, needs to bat as deep as possible and that was my focus,” Rohit Sharma was quoted saying at the post-match presentation in Cuttack.
Rohit acknowledges good support from Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer
India had a couple of excellent partnerships which put them on course to hunt down 305. Rohit shared a 136-run stand with Shubman Gill at the top of the order. It came in quick time as well as the Indian opening pair added the runs in just 16.4 overs.
Virat Kohli didn’t last long but Shreyas Iyer made another substantial contribution at No. 4. He added 70 runs with Rohit for the third wicket to put the hosts in the driver’s seat. The India captain acknowledged those partnerships and also revealed his game plan through his knock.
“Once I got into my innings, I understood what they were trying to do: bowling into our body and trying to not give any room, keeping it on the stumps. And that’s where I prepared my plan as well, what I wanted to do with those kind of deliveries, trying to access the gaps which were there. It’s about understanding what you want to do as a batter and… obviously got very good support from Gill to start with and then Shreyas as well,” Rohit added.
India have won the series 2-0. The third ODI is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad on the 12th of February before India fly out to Dubai for the Champions Trophy 2025
