Courtesy: BCCI
Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, returned to form with a sensational hundred in the second ODI of the three-match series against England at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. After scoring his 32nd hundred in ODIs, which was also his first in international cricket in 11 months, Rohit Sharma sounded quite happy with his performance, which helped ensure a four-wicket win with 33 balls to spare for India, to take an unassailable 2-0 in the series.
Notably, in the build-up to the second ODI of the series, Rohit Sharma was woefully out of form at the international level, scoring just one fifty since September, which had come in a Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru. But, despite that, he took the attack to the England bowlers from the very beginning of the innings, to reach a fifty in just 30 balls before continuing his batting onslaught in pursuit of the 305-run target set by the visitors.
It was good, really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team: Rohit Sharma
The Indian captain went on to reach his hundred in just 76 balls, and ended up scoring 119 runs in 90 balls with 12 fours and seven maximums before losing his wicket to Liam Livingstone. During his power-packed innings, Rohit Sharma went past Chris Gayle, to become the second-highest six-hitter in ODI cricket history, finding himself just a few maximums behind Shahid Afridi in first place.
During the post-match interview, where he received the player of the match award, Rohit Sharma was quoted as saying the following about his latest hundred, as per ESPNcricinfo, “It was good, really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team. Important game with the series on the line but I broke it down to pieces about how I wanted to bat. Longer than T20s and shorter than Tests and I wanted to break it down. I wanted to bat as deep as possible and that was my focus.”
“Looking at the pitch - when you play on black soil, it tends to skid on a bit and you have to show the full face of the bat initially. Then they bowled into the body and kept it on the stumps and that's where I prepared my plan and tried to access the gaps. Got very good support from Gill and Shreyas as well”, Rohit Sharma also remarked about how he worked out the pitch, and batted alongside his teammates.
