It was probably the first time Rohit Sharma smiled during his stay at the crease on Monday (June 24) morning. The Indian captain had already given his team a blistering start. He’d already made a statement to the Australians. He’d already smashed Mitchell Starc for 29 runs in a single over. He’d already produced one of the most brutal displays of powerplay hitting in the history of the T20 World Cup. That too against the formidable pair of Starc and Pat Cummins. He’d even welcomed the talisman, Adam Zampa, with a six.
While Marcus Stoinis’ welcome to the bowling attack was a slap down the ground after Rohit had stepped out of his crease, taking him to 63 off 26 deliveries.
Then came the six, his 7th of the innings already, off Stoinis where he waited on the all-rounder to go for his patented bouncer and Rohit swatted him over mid-wicket like he was auditioning to be a baseballer. It was probably the most incredible shot in an innings which was filled with incredible shots. As if tempting Stoinis to go short at him, Rohit bent down slightly, clearing his front foot in the process, almost in the way AB de Villiers used to. It meant that when the ball did get to him, he wasn’t in a position to play a traditional pull or hook, but instead had to create a shot on the go, cross-batting it over the ropes in the forward square-leg region. No wonder he was smiling. It was an outrageous attempt at a shot, and an even more outrageous outcome, on an outrageous morning of outrageous six-hitting.
The significance of him smiling though had more to do with just how Rohit had gone about his demoralising of Australia till that point. There was a ruthlessness to it. A sense of brutality you don’t generally associate with Rohit Sharma’s batting. Yes, it wasn’t the first time he was being ultra-aggressive in the powerplay or taking on the onus of being the aggressor at the top of the order. This seemed to mean more to him though. Like he had some unfinished business with the Australians.
He’d started off in a hurry on that famous afternoon in Ahmedabad as well. He’d charged at Starc, swung at Cummins, and chanced his arm against Hazlewood. Here, at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, he was doing all that too. But with an added bit of what seemed like pent-up intensity.
Rohit had of course spoken a lot about how long it took him to get over the heartbreak of losing the 50-over World Cup final, which India entered as favourites, on home soil. It was a rare glimpse into the sentimental side of the Indian captain, who generally has kept that side of him very private.
So, you can’t blame him if he did want to prove a point or take it out on the Aussies. Not like it could ever make up for what was lost on that night at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Not like it could ever provide him with complete solace.
Maybe it was just closure, even if the result largely didn’t matter to India’s chances of qualifying for the semi-final. It did however, as it’s done, push Australia into a more precarious position than they were in.
Rohit would of course speak about the clever strategy to his batting. Beginning by hitting against the wind, and getting Starc in particular to change his angle and then use the wind to his advantage. It was not that he was simply batting with anger, even if it might have looked like he was, in the merciless fashion in which he was targeting some of the best to have ever played for Australia.
Rohit played some incredible shots. ©
It was shrewd batting. It was brilliant manipulation of the field and the conditions. And it meant that during his stay at the crease, he had the Aussies in his complete command. Rohit was dictating terms, not just in terms of how Australia were bowling but also where they were bowling to him.
But you couldn’t deny that the slog-sweep off Pat Cummins was more than simply a calculated risk, even if he was hitting with the wind. Like Ricky Ponting would say on commentary, batters don’t slog-sweep Pat Cummins. Not off his first ball. Not off his last ball. Not any time.
Here was Rohit though, getting down on one knee and depositing his counterpart from that World Cup final over the deep mid-wicket fence. If the six off Stoinis was the most ingenious shot of his innings, the one to greet Cummins was the most disdainful.
The ones off Starc in his second over could count too. The two back-to-back inside-out hits over the cover fence, like he was teeing off, even if he was doing so against the cross wind. Then the hoick over wide long-on when Starc changed his angle, after being forced to do so.
And all this before Rohit finally afforded himself a smile. It felt almost in that moment, he had rid himself off much of that disillusionment, maybe even a bit of regret, he’s carried with him since that fateful evening in Ahmedabad on November 19. It was a slightly different Rohit from that point on at the crease. He still did hit Stoinis for another six in the same over before hitting him for two fours in his next.
You could though see him a bit more relaxed and more his usual self, sharing a joke with Stoinis and even a friendly word or two with Matthew Wade behind the stumps. He interestingly even seemed less intent to try and hit every second ball over the ropes, settling down into a more workman-like mode for a couple of overs, before he eventually fell to a full delivery from Starc, that caught his inside-edge, his pad and then hit the stumps. Rohit had fallen 8 runs short of what would have been a breath-taking century, but he’d done more than enough to ensure that he got some of his own back against the Aussies. He also got his smile back along the way on a day his team and his fans couldn’t stop smiling.
