Rohit Sharma’s tornado in Mohali may have blown away the hopes of Sri Lanka cricket fans, but there was one Lankan guy who was genuinely happy for the stand-in India skipper. Mohamed Nilam – the ardent cricket fan from the island nation was recently in India to watch his home team play. In fact, Nilam followed the Test series passionately until the last Test at Feroz Shah Kotla where he unfortunately had to return home to tend his ailing father A A Farook who needed a surgery for throat cancer.
Nilam was supposed to stay in India until the last T20I on December 26 but the news of his father’s sickness cut his trip short. Amidst the difficult time, Rohit had shown a great heart and helped Nilam with the quick arrangement of a ticket back to Colombo.
“I’m very thankful to Rohit Sharma for his help. He is a very nice man and has a good heart. I was very happy when he scored 208 in the second match,” Nilam was quoted by indianexpress.com as saying.
Nilam also revealed that India’s regular skipper Virat Kohli, who was in Italy for his wedding ceremony with Bollywood diva Anushka Sharma, messaged him to confirm if he needs any help for his father’s treatment.
“Virat also messaged me and asked about my father’s health. He said ‘if you need any help, tell me’,” said Nilam.
Coming into the second match after a demoralizing loss in the ODI series opener at Dharamsala, Team Indian needed a win to stay alive in the series and Rohit Sharma led from the front, becoming the first batsman in cricket history to amass three double hundreds.
Sharma’s historic 208* off 153 balls guided India to a series-levelling 141-run win. In an innings laced with 12 sixes and 13 fours, the highlight of Rohit's fire show was in was in the 44th over when he pummelled Lankan pacer Suranga Lakmal for four consecutive sixes in an over.
India virtually batted Sri Lanka out of the game by posting a mammoth 392 on the board. Sri Lanka never looked comfortable during the chase as they lost their top five at the score of 159. Even though former skipper Angelo Mathews made a glorious ton (111* off 132 balls), but the visitors could only manage 251-8 in their 50 overs.
