Rohit Sharma - A Champion In Making

In cricket there have been numerous good innings, there have been certain great innings and then there have been rare acts of sheer single handed domination. What Rohit Sharma did at the PCA Stadium of Mohali on Wednesday was undoubtedly an act of domination and mercilessness on the Sri Lankan bowlers. In the process, he went on to become the only batsman to score 3 double centuries in ODI’s (in fact he was the only one to score 2 of them).  The fact that there have been only 7 double hundreds scored and one man having scored 3 of them shows what this man is made up of.

Rohit’s career is a perfect example of focus and persistence. Like most other successful sportspersons, Rohit has been through difficult times in his career. As is the case in Indian cricket sometimes even highly talented players fail to solidify their place in the team. Same was the case with Rohit. In fact, having made his ODI debut in 2007 it took him about 5 years to cement his place in the Indian playing XI.

He had however been around all the time. The first signs of his potential were seen in the famous T20 World Cup in 2007 where he scored a half century in the do or die game against South Africa. He followed it with moments of sporadic excellence in ODI’s, the most memorable being his match winning partnership with Sachin in the finals of the CB Series in 2008. What was actually lacking in Rohit’s performances was consistency.  In spite of showing promise he failed to justify his enormous talent as a batsman.

He has evolved tremendously as a batsman since then. In the initial phase of his career, there was also an uncertainty over his batting order which perhaps affected his performance. It was ever since he started opening the batting that he gained great confidence and expressed himself as an altogether different batsman - classy yet authoritative, which is precisely the reason why he is so special.

In this era of power play with brutal muscular batting and with unorthodox cricketing shots in trend, Rohit has carved a niche of his own- elegant and almost flawless when he gets going. He might not be the most creative like AB Devilliers or Morgan and not the most sturdy like Chris Gayle or Warner, yet he scores loads of runs, even hitting huge sixes with astounding effortlessness. The success he has had as a batsman can be the perfect example for budding cricketers to understand that getting your basics right is still the most important aspect of batting regardless of the format of the game. 

Talking of his incredible ability to score big hundreds, it is certainly phenomenal the way in which he paces and builds his innings. We have all seen this while growing up before the T20 style took over and  this has indeed been the ideal way to bat in ODI’s- starting off slow and capitalizing in the later part of the innings. What however sets apart Rohit is his unbelievable expertise in changing gears in the final lap. Like in today’s innings or in any of the huge centuries he scored, he almost became unstoppable as soon as he crossed the 100-120 run mark.

Indian cricket has this unique and slightly unfair characteristic of celebrating a particular player in excess, which often denies other players the mention they deserve. How frequently we discuss the example of a genius like Rahul Dravid being little unfortunate to be born in the era of Tendulkar’s dominance! The present time is indeed that of Kohli’s prolific batting and heroics. But here we have Rohit Sharma- another pillar of Indian batting scoring almost as heavily as Kohli and winning matches on his own.  

He might not be as flamboyant as Virat but is nonetheless highly effective. He has now gained recognition as a champion batsman and as a player whom the team can rely upon. And as for the mention which he deserves, needless to say if he keeps on performing like he did today no force on the world can deny him the adulation and celebration as a superstar of Indian cricket. Way to go Hitman!