Rohit Sharma is a big match player. He is also the best pull and hook striker of the ball and carries an endearing imperiousness with the bat, something that he put on display at the Melbourne Cricket Ground quarterfinal against Bangladesh.
In this tournament, however, the man who holds the record of making the highest ODI double century (264) had not been firing as expected. He was losing concentration mid-stride and was escorting the ball to fielders thoughtlessly.
But come the knockout stage and he rose to the occasion. His 137 runs all decked up by 14 boundaries and three sixes were a treat to watch, especially when they came couched in refreshing caution and seasoned patience. That is was his maiden century in a World Cup, in a high-pressure situation, made it even more special.
Whether he slammed the ball to extra-cover boundary, or lifted it straight overhead in a sheer display of class, or swatted with a cross bat to get another four, or for that matter, merely tickled the ball with the bat for a delectable late cut - Sharma displayed an array that had the delight of variety.
His skipper MS Dhoni who has been valiantly defending Sharma’s leanness with the runs all through the group stages, was on Thursday, all praise for the calmness that Sharma kept close to him even when the run rate was falling and he was defending more than attacking.
Once they started bowling that back-of-the-length channel, it was difficult for the batsmen to freely rotate. What could have been done was — we kept losing wickets. I felt once Ajinkya and Rohit, their partnership was building, they could have gone on and played maybe a few more overs, the reason being if you have already played 35, 40 deliveries, the new batsman coming in, if you are finding it difficult he will certainly find it difficult, so he will have another 15, 20 deliveries minimum and that keeps piling up. Apart from that, I felt Rohit and Raina, they batted well.
“Wickets kept falling but Rohit kept himself very calm. His strike rate dropped, but still, he knew if he’s there and he plays maximum numbers of overs, he can definitely score and score at a good pace,” he said.
That’s quite another Rohit we saw in the middle this Thursday. Patience is not really this natural stroke-players first asset. Classy aggression is. His shots are as clean as those grounded cover drives that Virat Kohli is so popular with.
Being pulled out of the rut of playing lower down in the order at number six when his seniors gave no room for him to get an opening up ahead, has been to his and his team’s favour. As an opener, Sharma has flowered into a poised run-maker on fast track. His strokes are a treat to watch when he is in full flow.
Dhoni says Sharma has grown tremendously in the last four-five years and is the best India has as an opener, a fact not many may debate.
“Going back four years and compare, won’t be realistic, the reason being he was not really opening for us at that time. We felt he was a bit of waste of talent if he was batting at 6 for us because more often than not he was not getting enough chance to bat, and our top order was quite fixed. We couldn’t really make him play or give him enough opportunities. That’s a reason why if you see the first 40 games, you may think he has not done enough. But out of those 40 there were quite a few times when he went in to bat in the last four overs or five overs, in a five-match series if you’re playing and your top order is batting well, you don’t get a chance to bat.
“That was the time we decided we’ll try to make him an opener and he accepted that. He did open for us in the T20 World Cup, and from that point, we thought it will be good to have him as an opener because cuts and pulls well, and he’s a natural stroke player. It helps if you have somebody in the top order who, once he gets going, he can play (big) innings,” Dhoni said.
On his part, Sharma was diffident with the bat and picked his bowlers to go into attacking mode.
“It was a big game for us. We wanted to make it count. Glad we were able to eventually post a big total. It was important for me to stay, especially knowing we lost a couple of wickets in the middle. Before we started we knew it was going to be slow and low. We just wanted to take our time and play our game. I knew if I stayed till the 30th-35th over, then we could make a big score.
“All the shots I played today, I liked,” he said while picking up his first Man of the Match trophy of the event.