Rohit Sharma‘s bat wasn’t working. Those were Rohit Sharma‘s words in Sydney – ‘bat chal nahi raha hai ‘ – justifying his decision to stand down from the important fifth Test against Australia in January this year. Before Sunday, the lull had stretched for 10 innings (9 in Tests and 1 ODI), bringing into question his future in the sport.
Come after Sunday , Rohit Sharma silenced the doubters and showed his readiness to lead India into the Champions Trophy, as he powered through to his 32nd ODI century to set his side up for an unassailable 2-0 series lead in the second ODI against England at Cuttack.
India captain Rohit Sharma swam against the current, back into form, after months of tumbling performances across formats in international cricket, hitting a swashbuckling century in the second ODI against England in Cuttack on Sunday. Rohit led India’s charge with the bat as England posted a challenging total of 304 runs on the board.
The skipper produced an effortless, show, suggesting that he wasn’t really out of form during the period of a rut. Even while batting in the nineties, Rohit Sharma looked unfazed and batted with absolute ease, as if he had gotten the better of his nerves. With his personal score reading 96, Rohit Sharma decided to step down the wicket casually and dispatch England spinner Adil Rashid down the ground for a six. Even his century celebration was a mooted one, with fans highlighting the lack of celebration is down to his recent struggles with the bat.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : This is a high-scoring venue. 63 and 64m square boundaries and 73m hit down the ground. I will do a knuckle test first, it’s not hard as the last pitch we played at and it’s cracked so it might spin a bit in the last 30 overs. While the Sun is out through the day. I think the ball will come on nicely.
I feel the pitch is a bit abrasive. It might slow down in the second half of the first innings. You might want to bowl first and there might be a bit of dew in the second half. The pockets at mid-wicket are short so spinners will have their task cut out reckons Deep Dasgupta and Graeme Swann
Toss : England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss for second time in the row and chose to bat first with as many as three changes in the playing XI bringing in Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood for Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer in the playing XI. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma batting first as expected bought in fit again Virat Kohli for Yashasvi Jaiswal and resting Kuldeep Yadav for debutant Varun Chakravarthy in the playing XI.
Ravindra Jadeja’s consecutive 3-fer bundles out England for 304 as Ben Duckett and Joe Root hits resolute half centuries alongside Livingstone’s cameo.
Earlier in the afternoon batting first , England put on a much improved show with the bat in comparison to their efforts in the opening ODI. Contrasting fifties from Joe Root (69) and Ben Duckett (65) followed by a Liam Livingstone (41) cameo, powered England through after Phil Salt failed to convert another start in the series.
The visitors did get off to another rapid start in the first ten overs, like they had in Nagpur, before slowing down against India’s spinners. Varun Chakravarthy, on ODI debut, was the one who broke the opening stand by dislodging Salt. He then put the brakes on the scoring although it was Jadeja who proved the toughest to get away for England’s batters.
The left-arm spinner hit the right lines, mixed up his pace and lengths, and got the odd ball to hold up with grip and turn to fox the batters. He also won the matchup duel with Duckett whose attempts to tame the spinner resulted in his downfall. It also meant that Jadeja along with fellow left-arm spinner Axar could bowl at the right-handed England middle-order without any worries.
Harry Brook struggled for impetus but he did stitch a useful 66-run stand with Root who was the anchor around whom the innings revolved. The spinners choked the run flow so much for India that the rewards were reaped by their quicks.
Harshit Rana did concede a few boundaries to Brook but like in the fourth T20I, had the last laugh with a wily slower ball, taken brilliantly by Gill at mid-off. A while later, it was Buttler’s turn to fall to a pacer, Pandya this time, after being tied down by the spinners. Amidst all this, Root batted with assurance to hold one end up.
Livingstone and Root got a handy partnership as England looked with a chance of getting past the 320-run mark and beyond. However, Rohit’s ploy to hold spin back for the final ten overs worked wonders as Jadeja snapped up Root in his penultimate over.
The left-arm spinner then had Jamie Overton off the final ball of his spell to a moment of atrocious shot selection from the all-rounder. This meant that England were in danger of imploding for one more time on this tour. However, Livingstone batted deep and also struck a few big blows at the back end to boost the visitors’ total.
Rashid also clobbered three boundaries on the trot against Mohammed Shami to ensure that the work done by Root and Duckett wasn’t wasted entirely. The tourists, though, could have gotten past the 320-330 range if they had batted with a bit more game awareness.
Rohit Sharma’s Blazing Ton Floors England
At the halfway mark, England’s total of 304 did appear to be a tricky one on a slow black-soil surface with the odd ball stopping off the hard length. Spinners and off-pace deliveries didn’t seem easy to get away. However, as is the case with black-soil surfaces, batting under lights tend to be relatively easier.
At least, that’s what Rohit Sharma made it seem as he got off the blocks in a jiffy. A couple of sixes, one over deep square leg and the other over deep cover showed that the captain was in the zone for the night. Rohit Sharma’s aggression allowed Gill to take his time although the latter also dished out some exquisite strokes.
Rohit Sharma had eased along to 29 off 18 when the floodlight failure kicked in, and the frustration could have been all the more acute when Mark Wood entered the attack after the resumption and struck him on the knee-roll with his third ball. However, England’s review was deemed by ball-tracking to have only been clipping leg, and Rohit Sharma’s response was to slam his front foot to the pitch of his next ball, and lift Wood clean over long-off for his fourth six in eight overs – as many as England managed in their entire innings.
The first ten overs returned 77 for India with all ten wickets intact, and it set the tone for the chase. Even as the field spread, runs continued to flow from both the openers, Rohit Sharma in particular. During his terrific knock, he also overcame Chris Gayle to move to no.2 in the all-time six hitters list in ODIs. There was some turn on offer for Adil Rashid but by the time he came on, Rohit Sharma and Gill were so assured that they dealt him with aplomb. The ball also didn’t really hold off the pitch as it had during the afternoon when England batted.
Rashid, so often England’s trump card, was unable to stem the tide. Rohit clubbed him for two more fours in his first over, to march through to a 30-ball fifty, before Shubman Gill – hitherto the silent partner – showed he wasn’t about to waste his solid start with a wondrous slog-sweep for his solitary six.
Another pull for four from Gill brought up the hundred partnership in the 14th over, and one over later, he had his own fifty – from 45 balls – and the 21st time in 49 ODI innings that he had got there, at an average that briefly nudged above 60. England’s lack of variety was exposed when Atkinson – still smarting from his brutal treatment in the opening T20I – returned to the attack to be hoisted for two more pulled boundaries by Rohit Sharma, including a rank half-tracker that was dumped behind square for his fifth six.
It needed something special to break the openers’ onslaught and Jamie Overton provided it with a scorching yorker. Just a ball before, he had been smashed over mid-wicket with a powerful pull stroke by Gill and the all-rounder then beat the Indian vice-captain for pace with a terrific nut. It brought Virat Kohli to the crease but the veteran no.3 had an off day at the office. He did strike a glorious on-drive for four but looked all at sea against Rashid’s leggies. Eventually, one of them found the edge, with England reviewing successfully for the breakthrough.
The breakthrough, when it arrived, came somewhat out of the blue. Jamie Overton had been pumped for two fours in four balls by Gill when he hit back with a superb yorker that plucked out the off stump at 141kph. The momentary silence around Cuttack, however, was almost immediately replaced by a roar of acclaim, as Virat Kohli – back in the team after his knee niggle in Nagpur – walked out with the stage set at 136 for 1.
It would not prove to be a lengthy stay. One smartly driven four off Atkinson got the crowd purring, but Kohli had faced just eight deliveries when Rashid turned a legbreak past another forceful drive, and Phil Salt’s excellent take was rewarded when England’s review showed a feathered edge.
Having been recalled to the XI in place of India’s rising star, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kohli’s failure was as acute as Rohit’s success, although he might argue – rather like his captain – that it wasn’t that many ODIs ago that he was Player of the Tournament for his 765 runs at the 2023 World Cup.
It was a minor passage of play where the visitors would have had a bit of self-belief to bounce back in the game. However, so far ahead were India in the chase that it allowed Rohit to mellow down and Shreyas Iyer also could afford to play a safe game in the next few overs. The pair added still added 70 at a brisk pace, off just 61 deliveries with Rohit Sharma continuing to be the dominant partner. It seemed like the duo might be able to complete the chase by themselves before the Indian captain gifted his wicket away.
Rohit Sharma reached his landmark from 76 balls with the last of those sixes, a glorious lofted drive over wide long-off off Adil Rashid, and had he not scuffed a Liam Livingstone full-toss to midwicket with 85 runs still needed, the margin of victory could have been crushing. Instead, India injected a few late jitters into their chase, losing three wickets in five overs after Shreyas Iyer was needlessly run out for 44, and it required Axar Patel’s calm 41 not out from 43 balls to guard against embarrassment.
Having struck the ball cleanly and even dismissing decent deliveries to the fence, Rohit fell to a full toss, miscuing it towards mid-wicket after having stepped out to take it on the full. Liam Livingstone was the beneficiary of the gift but the wicket came just a bit too late in the contest from England’s perspective.
Iyer combined with Axar to push India’s charge before the former fell to a silly run out that occurred due to terrible miscommunication. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya both fell as India neared the target but the result was never in doubt. Axar along with Ravindra Jadeja closed out the game with 33 deliveries to spare.
Realistically though, England had been chasing shadows long before Ravindra Jadeja, their chief tormenter with the ball, had driven the winning boundary with 33 balls to spare. Those shadows had been literal ones at one stage, when a floodlight failure in the seventh over caused a tedious 40-minute delay.
Despite his well-documented struggles in Australia this winter, and notwithstanding his unconvincing 2 from seven balls in Nagpur on Thursday, Rohit Sharma has played too few ODIs of late to be considered out of form in the format.
This was only his fifth 50-over innings since the World Cup final in November 2023, where his haul of 597 runs at 54.27 had been instrumental in his team’s march to the final. Since then, he had added two more fifties in three innings in Sri Lanka in August. Even with his 38th birthday looming in April, and with 11,000 career ODI runs beckoning in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, he’s looking good for a few more yet.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Jos Buttler the loosing England skipper said : I thought we did a lot of things well, we got into a nice position with the bat. We needed someone to push on and get us to 350. Credit to Rohit, he batted superbly, he has been batting like this since a few years in ODI cricket.
Wanted to get runs on the board, it skidded on a bit and the opposition also played well. We played the powerplay brilliant, we needed someone to kick on and a score around 330-350 would have been defendable. Just keep taking steps in the right direction, the results are not there but we need to keep going and be positive.
Rohit Sharma the winning skipper and Player of the match for his scintillating 119 runs said : It was good, really enjoyed being out there, scoring some runs for the team. Important game, series on the line. I broke it into pieces how I wanted to bat. It’s a format that is longer than T20 cricket and a lot shorter than Tests. Still, you need to assess and bat according to the situation. I wanted to stay focused and bat as deep as possible.
Looking at the pitch when you play on black soil, the pitch tends to skid on a bit so it’s important that you show the full face of the bat. Then they were trying to bowl into the body and not give room so I prepared my plan as well. I accessed the gaps and obviously,
I got good support from Gill and then Shreyas. We enjoy batting with each other, Gill is a very very classy player. I have seen him from close quarters and he doesn’t get overawed by the situation. The numbers are there as well if I’m not wrong.
(On the importance of middle overs) It’s quite important, the game can go either side. If you manage and squeeze in the middle overs, it helps you not to worry at the death. In both the game, even in Nagpur, we squeezed in the middle overs and even here we squeezed in the middle overs.
When you take wickets in the middle overs, you can contain the opposition. We want to keep getting better as a team. I said after the last match as well, we want to get better as a team and as players. As long guys are clear what they are supposed to do and whatever the captain and coach is saying, if they execute it then there’s not much to think about.
Rohit Sharma (119 off 90) produced a blistering century, his 32nd in ODIs, to set up India’s series-clinching four-wicket win in the second ODI against England in Cuttack. Chasing a competitive target of 305, India were led by Rohit’s sparkling innings and his 136-run opening stand with Shubman Gill (60 off 52). Shreyas Iyer (44) and Axar Patel (41*) also chipped in with useful knocks to see the hosts through despite a few wickets falling towards the end.
India beat England by four wickets on Sunday (February 9) in the second ODI to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series. In the match played at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, India first bowled out England for 304 runs in 49.5 overs and then chased down the target of 305 runs in 44.3 overs for the loss of six wickets.
For India, captain Rohit Sharma top-scored by amassing a total of 119 runs from 90 balls, and his opening partner, Shubman Gill, scored 60 runs. The duo added 136 runs for the first wicket to set the tone of a big win for the Men in Blue. The win in his 50th ODI match as India captain on Sunday helped Rohit Sharma achieve a personal milestone, as he now moves to the No. 4 position in the list of Indian captains with the most wins in international cricket.
Rohit Sharma broke Sourav Ganguly’s record of 97 wins for India as captain in international cricket. Rohit Sharma has led India to win in 36 ODIs, 50 T20Is, and 12 Test matches played so far. Under his leadership, the Indian men’s cricket team has emerged victorious in 98 out of 136 matches played so far across formats.
If not for those easy wickets that India lost towards the end, this could have looked so bad for England. Rohit Sharma hit them like a storm in the powerplay. He raced to fifty off just 30 balls and once the powerplay was done Gill exploded. When those two were batting it looked like India would win the game with some 15 overs to go. That’s how bossy both were. Didn’t spare Rashid, didn’t spare anyone until Overton and Livingstone were handed the ball.
England bowled down the leg-side quite often and paid the price. Even when the ball started turning Rohit Sharma looked in great control and hitting sixes on his way to his 32nd ODI hundred silencing all critics. India continued their experiment to push Axar up at No. 5 and he batted well alongside Shreyas before a miscommunication. England came back with a few wickets but India already had the game in their bag. Rohit came, he made his intent clear, stuck to a plan and executed it to the T. He makes Cricket look so much better when he gets going.
India continue their domination over England. For the first time in this tour, England batted well for long phases but they were still a bit short on a wicket that was usually conducive for strokeplay. There was a bit of dew as well which didn’t help their cause in the second half. India will be elated with the way Rohit Sharma batted tonight.
He looked positive from the outset and played his natural free-flowing game. So, both these sides only have one more game to go before the Champions Trophy. India will be eyeing to carry the winning momentum ahead of the marquee event. England, on the other hand, need to improve their all-round game if they are to prosper in sub-continental conditions.
In that revealing interaction with the broadcaster in Sydney, Rohit Sharma had made it amply clear that he had no intention of walking away from the sport. “There’s no guarantee that I won’t get the runs two or five months later,” he’d argued. He may have been referring to the longest format there but with 10 days to go for India’s first Champions Trophy fixture in Dubai, Rohit walked the talk in ODIs, reuniting with his knack for repeatedly sending the ball deep into the night sky.