Rohit Sharma: A Stalwart In The Making

For Rohit Sharma, it’s not always been about hitting big sixes and scoring freely. The stylish hard hitting opener got a longer rope, probably more than any other Indian batsman would when he was going through a bad patch in his cricketing career

Rumors say some unidentified flying objects were spotted in the orbit at the Saurashtra Cricket Ground at Rajkot on Thursday. Fact check – they were not UFO’s, but some blistering sixes from Hitman Rohit Sharma that propelled team India to eight wicket win vs Bangladesh. During his 43-ball 85-run knock, Rohit smacked 6 fours and 6 monster sixes and brought the Rajkot crowd to its feet. The India star opener is an asset to Indian cricket and has been in top form since ICC World Cup 2019. The prolific Rohit has smashed 251 Sixes in International cricket since January 2016. No other batsman in the world has crossed even 150 Sixes in the same period. The Mumbai-lad has a unique record of reaching a century with a six in all three formats of the game. However, for Rohit Sharma, it’s not always been about hitting big sixes and scoring freely. The stylish hard hitting opener got a longer rope, probably more than any other Indian batsman would when he was going through a bad patch in his cricketing career. The fall and rise of ‘HITMAN’ Can you imagine the heartbreak a cricketer has to go through when he doesn’t get an opportunity to bat? Ask Rohit Sharma, who had to struggle to establish himself as a dependable player in team India. Post making debut in 2007, Rohit bagged some occasional appearances but nothing noteworthy to cement a spot in the Indian cricket team for ICC World Cup 2011. Year 2013 was the breakthrough year for the right-hander, courtesy MS Dhoni, who has a big role in shaping Rohit’s career as an opener.  It was the then captain Dhoni who backed Rohit to open again at the Champions Trophy and rest is history. But at one stage in his in his career (2016-2017), the Mumbai lad lost form and had to face accusations form cricket pundits of giving his wicket away via loose shots out of the blue. A power hitter and reliable batsman like Rohit, struggling in coloured clothing even in Asiatic conditions rose eyebrows. Rohit’s poor form lead to experts and veteran players suggest giving opportunity to the young talents in the queue, raring to bat at the top spot in the Indian team. While Rohit was going through a rough patch, likes of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, emerged as young talented player, who had scored plenty of runs in the domestic circuit. Having a ‘do-or-die’ situation on hand, the premier limited overs batsman made most of the golden opportunity and proved his mettle in international circuit by attaining match winning knocks in year 2018. The World Cup 2019 belonged to Rohit Sharma, hands-down. The flamboyant opener equalled Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar in total number of World Cup hundreds. Both the Indians have six hundreds to their names in 50-overs World Cup tournament. Rohit announces himself in Test Cricket After donning a new avatar as a Test opener, Rohit stamped his class in his maiden Test appearance itself by scoring centuries in both innings of the first Test at Vizag against South Africa in October 2019. The 32-year-old proved to be a brute force in the longest format, as he scored 529 runs- including two tons and a maiden double Test ton - in the four innings he played against Proteas in the recently concluded Test series. With scores of 176, 127, 14 and 212 in the four innings he played during IND vs SA Test series, Rohit became the second batsman after India captain Virat Kohli to figure in the top-10 in all 3 formats in ICC rankings. Is Rohit the ‘best skipper’ in T20 format?   Many experts reckoned that the ‘turning point’ in Rohit Sharma’s career was him getting the added responsibility of being the Mumbai Indians captain in Indian Premier League (IPL). Rohit is creating his own legacy in the cash-rich tournament as he is one of the most successful captains of IPL, all seasons combined. When it comes to team India, Sharma is the highest run scorer Indian player (118 runs) in the T20I format. The star right-hander is the first and the only batsman in the world to score four T20I centuries. Rohit has played 98, T-20 international matches, in which he was not out in 14 matches and scored 2443 runs at the average of 32.73 while scoring 4 tons. What an asset Rohit is to Indian cricket ! Post Rohit’s stellar show in the second T20I against Bangladesh, newly appointed BCCI President Sourav Ganguly called Rohit an "asset" to Indian cricket. "Rohit Sharma 100 matches in t20... What an asset he is to Indian cricket," the former India captain said in a tweet.