HITMAN'S TOP HITS

1. 111* vs WI - WANKHEDE,MUMBAI

A debut against WI and a well-made 177 in his debut. But what followed that was a platform for the “The Master” to retire. Entire world was eyeing this test match. Sachin was well cruising over a 50+ score. Shots were so elegant, but to everyone’s shock, Sachin edged himself to Darren Sammy who was at first slip. . Kohli walked in and scored a brisk cover drive off his first ball for a boundary… Wait…. I was talking about “The Hitman”. ain’t I!!

The audacity of the match was such huge. Rohit entered at the score of 318/4 with MSD departing. Right from the word go, he was very positive in his attacking approach. With centurion Pujara departing at the other end, Ashwin joined Rohit at the middle. They both were almost scoring at a rate of 6.5 per over. But when Ashwin departed for a quickfire 30 off 32 deliveries, Rohit was 60 runs short of his century. Both Bhuvi and Ojha departed in quick succession. He was left with Shami at the other end to get his century. Rohit was 45 off 46 when Shami came in and the score was 414/9. Rohit took this opportunity to build his score. With the declaration mails popping out, he was in no mood to waste any deliveries. He had the responsibility of keeping out Shami from the West Indian quicks. Rohit scored at a brisk pace. He moved from 45 to 99, but Shami was still at 1. By these numbers one can imagine, the extent to which Rohit prevented Shami from getting strike. He was batting on 99, with the nervous 90s getting to his head. Four dot deliveries from Samuels, and everyone was expecting the glorious moment. And there came the one. An overpitched delivery which was launched over long-on for a maximum. Rohit launched his second consecutive ton. This will always be a knock of Nostalgia for the Hitman, due to the way in which he got this ton and also the match in which he got it.

2. 141 * vs Australia - SAWAI MANSINGH STADIUM,JAIPUR

There was always a fuzz about Rohit’s lazy stroke making in middle order. MSD promoted him as an opener, which turned out to be a vital decision in Rohit’s career. Previous to this match, Rohit had only two tons under his belt. In spite of being promoted as top order batsman, he still wasn’t converting those 50s into big ones. As an opener, he went century-less for 17 innings before this. Much to the agony of the Jaipur crowd, Australia posted a mammoth 359, leaving India to chase 360. Ghosts of 2003 WC final were haunting. There came the duo of Dhawan and Rohit who were carving a niche for themselves as an opening pair in Limited over circuit. With Dhawan getting off to a flyer, Rohit got off to a steady start. He assessed the wicket very well. His aim was to just playout the powerplay overs cautiously. He was successful in that. Then Rohit started to unleash himself. He shared a first wicket partnership of 176 with Dhawan, who departed for 95.Rohit was joined by Kohli. When the Aussies just thought, they could make some sort of inroads in the game, brutal hitting of Rohit and Kohli completely shut the door for Aussies. Both the batsmen were scoring boundaries at their will and India comfortably chased down 359 with almost seven overs to spare. Rohit remained 141* in this game and announced himself to the world that, this innings was just a start to his audacious stroke making.

3. 264* vs SRILANKA - EDEN GARDEN ,KOLKATTA

Rohit was blessed with natural stroke making abilities, but it needs a lot of stamina and concentration to score a 200 in ODI. Rohit has done it, not once or twice, but three times in a 50 over game. Yet this knock of 264 is something special. 264 is almost a team’s total in modern day game. It was the 4th ODI in the series. This was a comeback game for Rohit, who was just returning to the team from an injury. Speculations were raised on his fitness levels. But once again, Rohit grabbed this opportunity to answer his critics. Yet again it was a steady start. His first boundary came of his 22nd delivery. He gradually constructed his innings and scored a yet another ton of exactly 100 deliveries. Crowd didn’t have a clue about what they were going to witness for the next hour or so.
If at all there was any word to describe Rohit on that day, it was just “A MONSTER”.

The way in which he was shifting gears, was incredible. He bisected the fields, went over the circle and sometimes went over the Stadium as well. He toyed with the toiled SL attack with his thunderous power. It was almost as if Rohit was playing an XBOX cricket. Rohit made his 200, with his second hundred coming of just a mere 50 deliveries. But that wasn’t the end. In his next 23 deliveries, he made a massive 64, thereby amassing a tally of 264 runs in a single innings. SL bowlers were almost devastated of this monstrous knock.

4. 137* vs ENGLAND - TRENT BRIDGE

Trent Bridge pitch had some sort of assistance for the spinners and Kuldeep made a great use of it to pick a fifer, restricting England to an achievable target of 268. Dhawan and Rohit walked out. Dhawan was once again off to a flyer, but couldn’t keep his attacking instincts down. He was deceived by Moeen Ali’s flight and he edged out to Rashid at point, attempting a midwicket heave. Rohit was joined by his skipper and they both once again laid a solid foundation for the run chase. English bowlers were tormented. The fluency in this partnership almost made one to think that, Indians were batting on another wicket. They both were enjoying themselves at the crease.

Rohit looked so comfortable in this innings. Let it be the sweeps of Adil Rashid, or the lofted shots of Moeen Ali, Rohit proved his attacking strokeplay against the spinners. He was after all arriving from a ton from his previous match. Rohit was able to clear the boundary, by lofting Moeen Ali over his head, just by using his top hand. Such was the day for Rohit. Even though Kohli was dismissed, Rohit made sure he remained unbeaten till the end to seal the game for India.

5. 140 VS PAKISTAN - OLD TRAFFORD,MANCHESTER

Any Indian batsman would like to have an ODI century against Pakistan and Rohit was not an exception. But a WC century against Pakistan would be something to relish. Its like a fairy tale moment. Every time India play Pakistan in a WC match, the intensity becomes so huge. There is pressure on both the teams. India had to defend their upper hand on Pakistan when it comes to ICC events, while Pakistan has to break the Indian shackles to register a win. India already had problems, while coming into this game. Their regular opener Shikhar Dhawan, who got a century in the team’s previous match was ruled out of WC. It was a big blow indeed. KL Rahul was promoted as opener and Rohit has to get in sync with his new opening partner in a high-pressure game. Not an easy ask to do, but that was the only way out. Rahul played himself for a maiden in the first over and Rohit was taking guard to face his first delivery of the match in the second over. Nerves running all over, he got off to a lucky start, when he inside edged an incoming delivery for a boundary, which almost would have knocked his middle stump. Rohit started feeling himself into a comfortable zone when he hoisted Hassan Ali’s short ball for a sir. Yet the pressure wasn’t relieved. Score was 46/0, when Rahul played a flick to square leg. Initial call was two, but when Rohit almost marched for the second run, KL Rahul denied it. A poor judgement in throw from Pakistanis, saved Rohit this time, handing over his second life of the match. It was absolutely insane from Pakistanis. Rohit was riding his lady luck and realised that it was his big day. He started scoring briskly from there on, reaching a 50 of just 33 deliveries. Rahul too responded well to the situation by scoring a half century, thereby providing a solid 136 run partnership for the opening wicket. Once again, a similar type of delivery from Hassan Ali sneaked through Rohit’s inside edge for the boundary. But then came the shot of the match. To just describe the shot,
“Short ball outside off from Pakistani speedster slapped over point for a six”

Any ardent cricket lover can relate this shot to Sachin’s shot of Akhtar in 2003 WC. Both of these shots had the same amount of power in them. Wasting no time, Rohit notched his century of 84 deliveries. It was still the 36th over and plenty of overs were left in the Indian innings. So, the crowd were ready for a roller coaster ride and “THE HITMAN” didn’t disappoint the crowd. He continued scoring at his will, but a funky scoop off Hassan Ali costed his wicket. Rohit knew he had every chance on the planet to get to a World Cup 200, but a, lapse in concentration costed his wicket. He was very much frustrated with himself after getting out to a scoop shot. Nevertheless, it was an outstanding effort from Rohit as once again Indians had their dominance against Pakistan in a WC encounter.