Rohit Sharma, the elegant marauder

INDORE: He walked out to the middle with the crowd chanting “Rohit, Rohit” at fever pitch. Just 12.4 overs later, he walked out to a standing ovation, having wowed the crowd by equalling the record for the fastest Twenty20 International century, off just 35 balls. His 118 came off just 43 deliveries, with 12 well-timed fours and 10 effortless, massive sixes.
When he is in full flow, it doesn’t matter who Rohit Sharma is facing.It looks like he is at ease, just toying with the bowling. Sri Lanka, in particular, seem to be his favourite whipping boys. The Lankans had a good taste of Rohit’s prowess in Kolkata in 2014, when he scored a record 264. Rohit targetted them again in Mohali during the One-day series a few days back, giving his wife the perfect anniversary present by scoring his third ODI double century.
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On December 20, Rohit celebrated his wife’s birthday, but waited two days more before gifting her with this record-equalling T20I hundred. Rohit is now the first Indian batsman to score two T20I hundreds.

He seems to be in a different league these days as an opener. Rohit doesn’t mind respecting bowlers early on, as is evident in most of his big innings. However, he was in a different mood on Saturday. After seeing off a couple of balls from Angelo Mathews, Rohit got off the mark with a cracking square cut and then pulled one over mid-wicket for another boundary two balls later. Both boundaries seemed to come with great ease.
With Rahul keeping most of the strike early on, the Lankans did well in the first three overs to keep him quiet. However, once he got strike, Rohit went berserk. He launched Mathews over long-on for his first six. Perera introduced Akila Dananjaya in the sixth over to take the pace off the ball. It hardly mattered to Rohit, who greeted him with a couple of boundaries, an on-drive and a sweep, followed by a six over long off.

Left-arm spinner Chaturanga de Silva too was treated with disdain. Straight away, Rohit played a glorious inside-out shot and followed it up with a square cut. The Indian skipper completed his fifty with a six over long-on to Asela Gunaratne and then celebrated the milestone with another a 104-metre six to bring up India’s hundred in just 8.3 overs. If that wasn’t enough, he cut and drove the next two balls for delightful boundaries.
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Sri Lankan skipper Thisara Perara had no clue on how to stop the rampage as Rohit blasted him for four successive sixes — over long on, straight, point and cover. A blazing cover drive off Mathews brought up the hundred. There was no over-the-top celebration. Scoring big is slowly becoming a habit for Rohit.
The only question after his hundred was whether he could become the first man to complete a T20I double. For a moment, it looked likely, as there were still 7.2 overs left and he had hit Chameera for a couple of huge sixes and a four. However, Chameera’s slower one did him in. Rohit wanted to get it over short third man but only succeeded in spooning it to Dananjaya. By that time, his gorgeous strokeplay had made India’s day.