Hitman Plays Santa in Jaipur: Rohit Sharma’s 94-Ball 155 Stuns SMS Crowd

JAIPUR: The Yuletide spirit enveloped Sawai Mansingh Stadium (SMS) on Christmas Eve here on Wednesday as India’s white-ball great Rohit Sharma put on a batting masterclass while representing Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Sikkim.

The swivel pull, the lazy loft for six over the bowler’s head, and a sweep against pacers while he was down on one knee. All the exotic strokes came out of the closet like Christmas Day gifts from Santa Claus as the 20,000-odd spectators who thronged the stadium, even though it was a working day, got their money’s worth, even though the entrance was free.

The pre-match frenzy surrounding the ‘Hitman’ was justified as he scored a spectacular 94-ball 155 to power Mumbai to a thumping eight-wicket victory over the north-eastern side.

Some creative excuses would have definitely been made on Wednesday in Jaipur for missing work, school, or college. It was a comeback of sorts in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Rohit as it was his first appearance in the tournament after seven years, and his 37th List A ton was a return gift from the batter to his fans for all the love that they showered on him in the Pink City since he landed.

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The 155 that he made was also his ninth score of 150-plus in List-A cricket, equalling Aussie David Warner at the top. West Indies great Gordon Greenidge has six, followed by Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Fakhar Zaman, Travis Head, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Prithvi Shaw with five each.

The former Indian skipper was in his element from the word go. The first ball he faced was hit for a four off the pads to long-leg. A ball later, Rohit swept the good-length delivery to fine leg to turbo-charge his innings. He then followed it up with an on-the-rise boundary to extracover and ended the over by lofting Sikkim seamer, Palzor, straight over the sight screen. His first seven scoring strokes were all boundaries.

As he reached 50 with another six over long leg, there was a solitary single to keep the boundaries company in the scoresheet. In all, Rohit smashed 18 fours and nine sixes as Mumbai chased down a target of 237 in just 30.3 overs. Rohit added 141 runs for the opening stand with Angkrish Raghuvansi (38 off 56 balls) and another 75 with debutant Musheer Khan, who remained unbeaten on 27 off 26 balls. Rohit reached his century in 62 balls with a single to the on-side, while his 150 came off 91 balls, including a straight six that also broke his bat.

As soon as Kranthi Kumar’s wide delivery found the edge of Rohit’s bat marking his dismissal, fans began to vacate the stands after witnessing a thoroughly entertaining day. The couple of chances he survived before he was dismissed were cheered on lustily by the fans. As the strokes flowed, chants of “Daal Baati Choorma, Rohit Sharma Soorma!” echoed too from the stands.

Rohit will be back on the field when Mumbai takes on Uttarakhand at the same venue.

Scores:

• Sikkim 236/7 (A Thapa 79) lost to Mumbai 237/2 in 30.2 overs (R Sharma 155)