Rohit century takes India to series victory
Kohli & Co maul England for their sixth T20 series win on the trot
BRISTOL: On a sunny Sunday and in ideal conditions for batting, Rohit Sharma showed sublime touch to notch up his third T20 century and help India record a seven-wicket win against England. India wrapped up the T20 series 2-1, a first for Virat Kohli’s boys in England.
With this, they won their sixth T20 series on the trot, a run that goes back to November, 2017.
Playing with effortless ease, Rohit made light of England’s 198 for nine with an unbeaten 100 (56 balls, 11 fours and 5 sixes).
Short straight boundaries and the pitch not offering much lateral movement made it tough for bowlers. England had also capitalised on the conditions well by amassing 198, but given how strong both the batting line-ups are, no one knew what a safe total was. In the end, the home team were left to rue a late collapse they suffered trying to accelerate a bit too much.
At one point, England were looking good for a 225-plus score but Hardik Pandya applied the brakes by prising out Alex Hales, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow to finish with figures of 4-0-38-4.
In the first T20, Rohit was overshadowed by KL Rahul’s power hitting. Contributing just 32 (30 balls) in their partnership of 123 must have been a strange position for Rohit to be in. But, the Mumbai batsman was his natural self at the County Ground blinding everyone with his strokeplay.
A cracking on the rise offdrive off Chris Jordan to move from 95 to 99 was the most sublime in the array of shots on display. Rohit got to his hundred in the next ball with a single.
The Bristol curator had dished out such a batting beauty that Rohit’s teammates were left to rue they didn’t capitalise. The visiting batsmen did put on a dazzling show of wrist-play and timing. It was not as much as the runs but the silken skill on show that mesmerised most. While England were all power, it was sheer timing from the Indians.
Virat Kohli came in and caressed his second ball to the midwicket fence, with as much as a feather touch. In an entertaining partnership with Rohit, Kohli added 89 runs for the third wicket to take the game away from the hosts. When the India captain got out for 43 off 29 balls, India needed 48 more off 31 balls.
Rahul played three great shots, a straight drive for four, two sixes, the second one a nonchalant flick off Plunkett before a brilliant catch ended his stint.