I PREDICT A ROHIT!
Sharma’s amazing knock suggests tons of runs for tourists this Indian summer
ENGLAND’S T20 agents were snipered by India hitman Rohit Sharma who gave them a batting masterclass to learn from with a brilliant ton.
The superstar opener picked off the England bowlers one by one on the small Bristol ground to make a target of 199 look positively middling as India won by seven wickets to take the series 2-1.
And despite switching Joe Root for Ben Stokes, it was England who looked underpowered when it came to the battle of the blades.
On the face of it, Jason Roy’s 67 from 31 balls with cameos from Jos Buttler, Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow should have taken England into the stratosphere, but each time they were set to launch, India punctured their hopes with a wicket.
It meant the sort of score they had their eye on when they had raced to 111-2 from the first 10 overs, didn’t materialise and left them short on a pitch full of runs.
“We had a tremendous start with the bat and that gave us a terrific platform but we didn’t do it justice,” admitted skipper Eoin Morgan.
“With the small boundaries on that wicket I would have expected us to score more. It was only a par-score and we were 20 or 30 short.
“We did a lot of things right in setting that platform, and it allowed us to think about 225 or 235 – but the execution of our shots didn’t really match up with getting up to that total. We should have been better.”
When it comes to T20 cricket the team batting second have a huge advantage knowing what they need and how to pace their run-chase and Rohit’s calculations were inchperfect as he brought up his third T20 hundred from 56 balls.
But whereas England tried to bludgeon the Indian bowlers over the ropes, Rohit batted with a stylish surgical precision that comes more naturally and he will bring it to the one-day series that starts on Thursday at Trent Bridge.
He said: “I like to be calm, not to panic, because I know once you’re there you can make up time.
“With the wicket being so good, I knew I just needed to stay there as long as possible.”
England’s batsmen made too many mistakes which allowed MS Dhoni to take a record five catches while his own team-mates generally played error-free cricket that required two special catches from Chris Jordan to account for KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli.
The first of which was a sublime diving effort at long-on after sprinting and taking off a full speed.
Sadly for England it was all too rare.
Kohli said: “The comeback from the bowlers was outstanding. At one point we thought they would get 225-230. The character we showed is something we’re very proud of.
“It was a brutal day for the bowlers. The guys produced the goods for us.
“We had to make the batsmen feel like they would make mistakes. We applied pressure and pulled the game back nicely.”