Rohit Sharma smashed his fourth T20I century to power India to a commanding 195/2 against West Indies in the penultimate game of the three-match series on Tuesday (November 6).
It was a batting masterclass from Rohit as he remained unbeaten on 111 off 61 balls, including 8 boundaries and 7 sixes. With this knock, Sharma became the owner of most hundreds in T20I cricket. He also surpassed Virat Kohli’s tally of runs to become the highest run-scorer in the shortest format for India.
Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan (43) made up for their failure in the T20I series opener, sharing a 123-run opening stand off 84 balls to lay the foundation for a big score. KL Rahul also played a cameo of 14-ball 26 to propel India towards a dominating total.
In reply, West Indies got off to a terrible start as left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed removed both the openers, Shai Hope (6) and Shimron Hetmyer (15), cheaply. Afterwards, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Darren Bravo (23) and Nicholas Pooran (4) to reduce the visitors to 52/4 in 8 overs.
West Indies couldn’t recover from the early demolition of Indian bowlers. The experienced duo of Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar returned into the attack and dented the tourists even further with wicket apiece. Although Keemo Paul struck some lusty blows in the fag end of the innings, it was never going to be enough for Windies as they managed only 124/9 in their stipulated 20 overs.
By virtue of this resounding 71-run victory, the Men in Blue also secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.
Twitter experts were full of praise for Team India’s stellar all-round performance led by Rohit Sharma.
Here are some of the tweets:
Game and series over for West Indies here at Lucknow well played Rohit an Team India @BCCI congratulations
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 6, 2018
West Indies overwhelmed, series won, India’s players left with no worries to enjoy the Diwali break before the final match
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 6, 2018
Rohit Sharma should surely be the Man of the match for his three catches!????#IndvWI
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) November 6, 2018
Very disappointing from the West Indies. Must admit I expected more in the T20 format in spite of the absence of key players
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 6, 2018
at the end of this game Rohit will simply wear his cape and fly to Mumbai #INDvWIN
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) November 6, 2018
When it’s your day, it’s your day. Can’t do a thing wrong today, Rohit Sharma. Magnificent century, good bowling changes and a wonderful catch already #IndvWI
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) November 6, 2018
Brilliant catch by @imro45. Always difficult to take catches off the back foot like the one we just saw. Simply brilliant!! #INDvWI
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 6, 2018
Only Rohit Sharma can make a massacre look sublime.????????????????????????
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 6, 2018
On a #Diwali day what more can the fans ask for. Fireworks???? ???? from the bat of @ImRo45 resulting in his 4th T20 ???? - The Most by any in International T20's. #INDvWI
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) November 6, 2018