King of ODIs, Indian hopes on Rohit’s bat

There can be few better sights in world cricket than watching Rohit Sharma bat in full flow, especially in the limitedovers format that brings out the best in him irrespective of the conditions or the opposition. There are no heaves or brute force applied to send the ball deep into the stands. Instead, the cherry is treated with respect as he gracefully brings out textbook shots to demoralise the bowlers. The India opener is the only batsman besides Sachin Tendulkar to register scores of 150 or more five times.

THREE DOUBLE TONS

If there’s one statistic that proves Rohit as one of the most dangerous batsmen, it is his three double hundreds, the most by any bats- man. Even though all of them have been on Indian pitches with two against Sri Lanka, which barely managed to qualify for the 2019 World Cup, they showcase his ability to make power-hitting look like child’s play.

THE BUILD-UP

During each of those five innings of 150-plus, Rohit hadn’t gone past the half-century mark even once until the end of the 15th over. In the good old days when T20 format hadn’t come into vogue, there was a simple formula to approach ODI batting — plunder the opposition for as long as field restrictions are in place, maintain a decent scoring rate in the middle-overs while keeping a few wickets in hand and then go for the kill in the slog overs.

With Rohit, the approach has only gotten deceptive. The latest of his big knocks, which came in December last year against Sri Lanka, saw him get off the mark after nine deliveries. He moved to his 35th ODI half-century in 65 deliveries and then notched up his first century as India captain in 115 deliveries. He dilly-dallied a bit for the next 11 balls, picking 16 runs as a young Shreyas Iyer milked the Sri Lankans. India were at 277/1 after 43 overs.

THE FLOURISH

By the end of the 50th over, India had raced to 392. Sharma’s strike rate off the last 27 balls he faced was a staggering 341 as he scored 92 runs, including 11 sixes and three boundaries. It was powerhitting at its best.

In the four big 50-over tournaments that he’s played in the last five years — the Champions Trophy in 2013 and 2017, the 2013-14 Asia Cup and the World Cup in 2015 — Rohit averages 48.36, which is more than his overall average of 44.98, and 44.22 in Asia. THE THREAT

However, at the Asia Cup, besides scoring runs at the top, the stand-in skipper will also be expected to achieve what no Indian captain has since 2010 — win a 50-over edition of the Asia Cup. Entering the draw as defending champions, (the last edition was held in a T20 format), India are bound to feel the pressure.

Rohit, thus, will have to take charge, and while he’s very capable of doing so, he’d be wary of Mohammed Amir, who has had his number. Amir had ripped through the Indian batting line-up in the Champions Trophy final last year, including dismissing Rohit for a duck to help Pakistan thrash their arch-rivals by 180 runs. In fact, in the last four meetings between India and Pakistan (two ODIs and two T20s), Sharma has been dismissed thrice by Amir, twice on a duck.