Rohit Sharma 264: The day was November 13, 2014, Rohit Sharma was making a comeback to the Indian cricket team after finger injury in August. Rohit position in the team was in danger and he was left with no option except to perform to his fullest potential. It was his first ODI in the last 10 weeks and the butterflies in the stomach must be hampering him.
He started the innings in a shaky fashion finding, finding hard to time the back and was even dropped by Thisara Perera at the third man in the fifth over of the innings at an individual score of 5. Since then Rohit mixed aggression with caution in the batting briskly ticking the scorecard along with Ajinkya Rahane, but a straight ball by Angelo Mathews got better off Ajinkya Rahane, he was judged lbw by Mathews at 28.
In a span of 5 overs, Ambati Rayadu was also back in the hut adding only 8 runs to the team total leaving the fight to the dependable hands of Rohit Sharma and batting sensation Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma still was playing sensible game punishing only the loose balls, whereas Virat looked in sublime form taking the bowlers to the whiskers.
Rohit Sharma 264: Soon Rohit Sharma also got into a groove and started smashing bowlers to all parts of the park shaking the Sri Lankan bowling attack like doldrums. The actual assault starts soon after Rohit registered his 5th ODI ton, the floodgates were opened on both the hands and runs were plundered like a man snatching chocolate from a kid.
It started with the 30th over of the innings when Rohit Sharma plundered 14 runs off Nuwan Kulasekara overplaying shots possible. The partnership of Kohli and Sharma was going great guns until the miscommunication between the duos cost Virat Kohli his wicket at 66. Having joined the crease at 59/2 the batters put on a partnership of 202 taking the total to 261.
The Wicket of Virat Kohli couldn’t stop the Rohit Juggernaut as he started taking more strike, upgrading his batting to brutal level. The next 128 runs were put in 58 balls, out of which Uthappa contribution was only 16 runs. Rohit Sharma was inching closer towards his second double ton and amid the record of most fours was shattered. He was also about to break the record of facing the most number of balls as an opener but missed by only a ball, which means Sunil Gavaskar still holds the record of facing the most number of deliveries (174 balls) as an opener, although the batting maestro scored only 36 runs.
Rohit Sharma 264: By the time he finished at 264, he made the classic mockery of the bowlers after hitting 33 fours and 9 towering sixes out of the park. There were also four half-centurions in the Sri Lankan bowling attack (Nuwan Kulasekara, R. Eranga, S. Prasanna and Ajantha Mendis). Rohit Sharma finally gave his wicket away on the last ball of the innings. He was dropped twice in the innings at an individual score of 5 and 201 respectively.
Indian cricketers have a history of delivering masterpiece against Sri Lanka. Sourav Ganguly delivered his best ODI knock (183 runs in Taunton) against Sri Lanka in 1999, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni also registered their highest score ( 183 runs) against the mighty Sri Lankans. Sri Lankans exactly know how to get the best out of Indians. It was Rohit Sharma’s turn to take the rich legacy to a different level.
The Sri Lankan team on the other started off with a blunder departing the crease without ticking the scorecard. Only Angelo Mathews was the shining spot in the Sri Lankan batting order, who bludgeoned the Indian pace battery, others crumbled under the lofty score of 404 set by India.
Rohit Sharma 264: The Rohit hurricane started after Sri Lanka had played a tour match against Mumbai as a warm-up before the series, but the visitors didn’t know Rohit’s bat was also warming to explode. He smashed 145 runs off 111 balls in the tour match clearing his attentions of brutality to the Sri Lankan bowlers. From there on there was no looking back for him.
The entire Sri Lankan batting collapsed at 251 in 43.1 overs, which is 13 short to Rohit Sharma 264. This was the innings, which even made Virat Kohli fan of Rohit Sharma and during the press conference, this is what he said about Rohit Sharma “Today is the kind of day I can tell my kids I was there (and watched Rohit bat). I don’t think this record is getting broken anytime soon.”
Rohit Sharma 264: This was the innings that resurrected the dying ODI career of Rohit Sharma. Since then the batting prodigy has registered 18 ODI centuries and earned the new spot of the opener. He is the only batsman to clinch 3 double tons in one day cricket till date (209 runs against Australia on 2nd November 2013, 264 against Sri Lanka on 13th November 2014 and 208 runs against Sri Lanka on 13th December 2017).
The other batsman to score a double ton is Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Martin Guptill, and Fakar Zaman. In women’s cricket, only Belinda Clark and Amelia Kerr are the players to score a doubleton.
Rohit Sharma is currently the second-best ODI Cricketer in the global cricket after Virat Kohli. He has amassed 7650 runs in 197 ODI’s at an average of 47.81 including 22 hundred and 37 fifties. He has hit 669 fours and 210 sixes till date.
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