Rohit Sharma - A T20 batsman par excellence

Rohit notched up his maiden T20I ton in Indore.

Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul | Source PTI

Rohit Sharma once again showed who is the boss of T20 cricket after scoring 118 runs facing only 43 deliveries against Sri Lanka in the second T20 match at Indore. Rohit Sharma has yet again proved his worth as a captain and how good is he at the top order leading his team from the front. Rohit Sharma equals fastest century record in T20 Internationals. Now he equals David Miller who scored the fastest T20 ton against Bangladesh at Dhaka earlier this year.

Rohit Sharma's extraordinary innings made it possible for India to clinch victory in the second match by 88 runs and win the series 2-0. 

Rohit with scoring 118 runs becomes the first player to score two T20 centuries with highest opening pair partnership of 165 runs with KL Rahul in the same match. Only Suresh Raina and Lokesh Rahul are the Indians to score a century in T20. Lately, he has been in a magnificent form for team India with scoring a double century for the third time in ODI history which also came against Sri Lankan's only on his 2nd Marriage Anniversary.

This blistering inning from Rohit Sharma marks the highest run scorer for India's in T20s. He truly shifted his gears in the over of Asela Gunaratne in which he scored two sixes followed by two fours, after that he did not stop to hit every ball out of the park with hitting 12 fours and 10 sixes in total.

When the momentum was on top for Sharma he only took 10 deliveries to reach his other half-century but a slower delivery from Chameera made Rohit walk back to the pavilion on 118 runs with standing ovation from lovely Indore crowd. Lately, Hitman has shown how much capacity he has played for his country.

The tables have turned up for Rohit Sharma as he has become so efficient in shorter formats of the game. He has truly shown his best class from the moment he was chosen as the standby captain in place of Virat who was busy in his marriage with Anushka Sharma.

His wife has proven herself to be his lucky charm because every time she comes to the ground Rohit Sharma makes it big and memorable for his wife. She brings out the best of him with her charm he was able to score the third double century in ODIs. Lady luck this, certainly makes it count for the Hitman.

This year has been a dream year for the player because he has scored 1273 runs till now in 2017 with 6 ODI centuries. After Sehwag's 219 in ODIs no batsman other than Rohit Sharma has scored more than 150 runs in ODIs. He has some exceptional class and form that allows him to play such attacking and aggressive cricket. Hitman has also shown his worth at domestic level he has won three IPL trophies leading Mumbai Indians to the championship.

Apart from this ton and the 200 he scored in the second ODI at Mohali, Rohit also found form in the Test series, slamming a century and putting his name in consideration for a name in the playing eleven when India tour South Africa in January. His form in South Africa and England will be a matter of concern as he is on top of his career with playing so well at the moment.

Now the question which arises from here is that should he become the full-time skipper for team India in T20Is  and lessen Virat's overload in the shorter format of the game.  BCCI will surely like to give this a thought.


 

 
 

By Kunal Kataria - 22 Dec, 2017

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