Indian skipper Rohit Sharma rolls back time, mutes critics and helps wrap up series triumph.
Rohit Sharma had forewarned of writing him off in this version just yet. A seven-ball outing in Nagpur may have held the question over his head intact. But in a 142-minute masterclass at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday, the Indian captain wiped out detractors and England’s 304-run defence with his 32nd ODI century. First-game heroes Shubman Gill (60) and Shreyas Iyer (44) chipped in before India claimed a four-wicket victory and the series win with 33 balls to spare. On a day where the pacers were blunted by the England top-order, Ravindra Jadeja’s metronomic 3/35 had earlier denied the visitors a higher finish. When the local media reacted with rapturous applause to an early Rohit maximum, a couple of their English counterparts were left wondering if they were teleported to the Western Terrace back home at Headingley for a moment. For the Indian captain though, Sunday was all about reconnecting with happier times from not so long ago.
The distance seemed to grow larger with every passing innings since last October, but in an eye-popping reboot of the senses, Rohit ticked back to the 2023 home World Cup mode, butchering pace and the new ball to shreds in the V.
𝙄. 𝘾. 𝙔. 𝙈. 𝙄
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025
1⃣1⃣9⃣ Runs
9⃣0⃣ Balls
1⃣2⃣ Fours
7⃣ Sixes
Captain Rohit Sharma dazzled and how! ✨ ✨
Relive that stunning 𝗧𝗢𝗡 🎥 🔽 #TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @ImRo45 | @IDFCFIRSTBank https://t.co/0cabujjxah
Balletic belligerence
Perhaps his balletic belligerence was a touch overwhelming for the cricket-deprived Cuttack scribes or it was the simple joy of collectively forming an atmosphere that provided a lifeline to another waning international career, as they did in 2017 when Yuvraj Singh cracked 150 in his comeback ODI series after four years. Rohit’s first six had teased glimpses of a better zone. The flick had betrayed him in the first game, in the Ranji Trophy and in Australia too. But when Gus Atkinson came firing on length in the second over, Rohit unfurled the chip over the 30-yard circle with precision. With the shuffle inside the crease from outside leg to the off-stump on point and the right amount of muscle finally meeting the Kookaburra, Rohit eventually dispatched an international six after four months. The synapses fell back magically when Rohit flayed Saqib Mahmood over extra cover for another maximum in the next over and followed with another smite down the ground soon after. Even a half-an-hour floodlight fiasco could not disrupt Rohit’s tempo thereafter as India climbed to fifty within seven overs. Bossing his equation with Gill once again, Rohit craved more aerial spaces to unsettle Jos Buttler’s English attack.
🚨 Most ODI Hundreds in Men's Cricket 🚨
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025
A legendary list with three #TeamIndia batters in the 🔝 three!
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