jeetbuzz365 Rohit Sharma hits second-highest six in One-Day International cricket history

 

jeetbuzz365 Rohit Sharma has been in poor form in Test cricket. But in the ODI format, even though India hasn’t played much in the past one year, he remains one of the best in the business. A score of two runs off seven balls in the first one-day international against England before the Champions Trophy might have raised concerns, but a score of 119 runs off nine balls in the second match at Cuttack on Sunday should ease some nerves. He might not express it in many words, but Rohit admitted after the match that he "really enjoyed being out there scoring runs for the team". He rarely does that kind of thing lately.

People often talk about Rohit's lack of play in international cricket. Over the past 12 months, he averaged 23.70 in Test cricket, but since September 2024, that figure has dropped to 10.93. However, he was at his best on Sunday, producing the kind of performance that makes him a giant in the format.

“Looking at the field, when you’re playing on black soil, [the ball] tends to slide, so it’s very important to expose the whole face of the bat on the first at-bat,” he said of his approach. “Once I got into my pitching phase, I understood what they were trying to do: pitch to our bodies and try not to give us any room to keep the ball in the post.

“I had a plan of what I wanted to do with these pitches and try to fill the gaps there. It required me to understand what I wanted to do as a batsman and… obviously, I had a lot of support from [Shubman] Gill in the beginning and then also Shreyas [Iyer].

Rohit and his opening partner Gill scored 136 runs in less than 17 overs, making a big dent in India's target of 305, which they eventually reached in the 45th over to win the three-match series with one game less.

This augurs well for the Indian team as the Champions Trophy starts on February 19.