Rohit ton steers India to 302 for six against B'desh

Published on:

19 Mar 2015, 12:00 am

Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion with a scintillating century as India scored a commanding 302 for six against Bangladesh in the quarter-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup, here today.

Courtesy Rohit's spectacular 137 off 126 balls and his rollicking 122-run fourth wicket stand in only 15.5 overs with the belligerent Suresh Raina (65), the 'Men In Blue' were able to post a competitive total despite some tight bowling by Bangladesh for the better part of the Indian innings.

At one stage India were in a bit of trouble at 115 for three before Rohit and Raina bailed the team out of the tricky situation.

In the last 10 overs, India managed to score 97 runs.

This was Rohit's seventh ODI hundred that had 14 fours and three sixes, while Raina had seven fours and a big six off Shakib Al Hasan to his credit in his 57-ball innings.

Rohit's penchant for scoring big hundred was again evident as he now has two ODI hundreds at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (he has scored 138 vs Australia) and has got runs when it mattered the most, in a crunch game, with his team under some kind of pressure.

While the Mumbaikar paced his innings brilliantly scoring the first 50 off 70 balls and the next 87 runs off only 56 balls, the left-hander from UP was more adventurous in his shot selection as he treated both pacers and spinners with equal disdain.

Despite scoring two half-centuries, Rohit has had a quiet tournament. So the very first ball bowled by rival captain Mashrafe Mortaza was hit through the covers and certainly that calmed his nerves. He also had a firm push back past the same bowler for a boundary.

Shikhar Dhawan also handsomely drove Taskin Ahmed in the very next over as Indian openers were off the blocks.

Mashrafe introduced Nasir Hossain's part-time off-spin as early as sixth over and Rohit quickly cashed in on the opportunity to loft him over extra cover for a boundary.

While Shikhar was happy to rotate the strike, Rohit did hit some audacious shots. It included a six down the ground off Nasir as 50 runs came in 9.3 overs.

The first 15 overs yielded 70 runs and the first wicket fell in the 17th over when team's No. 1 player Shakib was brought into the attack. He induced Dhawan with a tossed up ball to come out for the drive and miss it as Mushfiqur Rahim completed the stumping.

Rubel Hossain got rid of an out of form Virat Kohli as he got a thickish edge to a fuller delivery and Rahim completed the formalities.

Rubel, the fastest bowler (he clocked nearly 147 kmph) to have ever played for Bangladesh, troubled Dhawan, Kohli and even Rohit to some extent working up brisk pace. His first spell of six overs cost him only 14 runs and the final figures of 1/56 in 10 overs were somehow damaged by Raina and Rohit.

Ajinkya Rahane (19) was not in his elements as he couldn't clear Shakib, who took a smart catch off Taskin's bowling to leave India struggling a bit at 115 for three.

But it was the entry of Raina in the 29th over that completely changed the course of the proceedings. He started taking on the bowlers which also enabled Rohit to play his natural game.

Raina's delicate back cut between cover and point fielder was one of the stand-out shots as was his huge six off Shakib. Gaining confidence, Rohit inched towards his century with a steer that got him to 96. The century came with a double towards deep extra cover off Mortaza's bowling.

Raina, on the other hand, was trying to give Mashrafe the charge as the ball ballooned for Rahim to complete the catch.

Rohit, however, upped the ante, hitting Rubel and Taskin for a six each.

It was Taskin, who gave Bangladesh a reason to cheer for, as he got rid of Rohit with a yorker in the 47th over, but by then the opener had done more than enough.