Rohit finally comes good with ton
BACK IN FORM After struggling to aggregate 50 on the tour so far, opener comes good much to team’s relief
Opener Rohit Sharma finally came good in this series as he scored his 17th century to help India get off to a solid start in the fifth ODI here at the St George’s Park on a cool and breezy Tuesday.
Rohit had struggled so far on this tour, failing to aggregate even 50 as India invariably began on the backfoot after losing an early wicket.
This time it wasn’t him but Shikhar Dhawan who went back early as the only batsman to get multiple double centuries in ODIs played himself in.
At the time of going into print, India were 219/3 in 40 overs, losing two wickets to run-outs, for which the Mumbai Indians skipper has to cop some of the blame.
Rohit had been troubled by the pace and the bounce of these wickets in the earlier games, not just in this series but on the previous tour, back in 2013. This time he buckled down, first letting Dhawan play the aggressive role and then getting himself into that mould.
The first boundary of his, off Morne Morkel, was a bit edgy as it went in the air, past the diving JP Duminy at point. He then came down the track and hit Kagiso Rabada for a six over long on to slay the nerves.
That set him going and from there, in the company of Virat Kohli, he never looked back. The pitch was a bit slow and although it supported movement early on, the Indian batsmen were never really bothered as the Proteas bowling struggled to make use of it.
India’s ability to fend off the new ball and not lose many wickets has been paying dividends off late.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan had said earlier in the series that India’s ability to see off the first 10 overs without losing many wickets – just one in most cases, has allowed the team to put pressure on the opposition.
In all the matches of this series, although India have lost an early wicket, of Rohit Sharma usually, the other opener and Virat Kohli have managed to build the innings that has helped to take India to a decent and challenging total.
In fact, while the openers have not clicked in unison over the past season, one of them has managed to hang on and play a long innings.
The Indians haven’t really made much of his failure in the one-dayers because they have been on a winning streak.
In the Tests though, his failure looked more pronounced as his inclusion invited a lot of criticism which eventually led to his axing from the third Test squad.
Fellow opener Dhawan had earlier said that since he is hitting the ball well, there is no need to worry.
“He is one good knock away from hitting form,” Dhawan had said. That probably came on Tuesday.
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