July 3, 2019 by admin

ROHIT TO THE FORE

AT THE WORLD CUP

Birmingham

Inevitably, it was a strong hand played by Rohit Sharma that confirmed India’s place in the World Cup semifinals after the team wrestled down the fighting Bangladesh batsmen in the eighth game for both teams.

Rohit Sharma’s fourth century of this World Cup, and fifth in two World Cups, helped India to a nervy 28-run win which was rarely in doubt, though the doggedness of the Bangladesh made the Indian fans nervous.

India have 13 points from eight matches, while Bangladesh tumble out of the tournament with seven points from the same number of matches. India’s win would cheer up Pakistan, who would be glad that they have one fewer competitor for a spot in the semis. Pakistan would now need to pray for New Zealand to beat England — if New Zealand win against England and Pakistan beat Bangladesh, Pakistan and New Zealand would be through to the semis.

4-tonner powers India

Off the 65th ball he faced today, Rohit played a stroke of perfect beauty — the ball was pitched up, he took a step out and drove the ball straight and high, his bat arrow-straight, his elbow high, his back arched, the connection perfect. The ball flew off the surface of the bat and rose high, right into the second tier of the stand. Rohit hit several other high-quality shots but this particular six, off off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain in the 22nd over of the innings, explained the India opener’s fine run in the World Cup. Rohit has hit 122 not out, 57, 140, 1, 18, 102 and 104 in the tournament so far.

Rohit now has most runs in this World Cup, 544 at an average of 90.66. The only other Indian in the top-10 is skipper Virat Kohli, who has 408. The two have contributed 952 runs so far, which is nearly half the runs made off the bat for India, which is 1,968 runs.

The boundary issue

In the previous game at the same ground two days ago, England hit 13 sixers against India; India hit just one, that too in the final over of their innings, when India had lost the game — 44 runs were needed then. Rohit had hit none in his 104 day-before.

Today Rohit’s first scoring stroke was a six, off Mashrafe Mortaza — the fourth ball of the innings was slightly short and at an easy pace, and it simply asked to be hit. Rohit saw it, swivelled and swung his bat with good timing and force, and sent it over the “short boundary” for a six.

Rohit later hit sixers off Mohammad Saifuddin, off extra cover, and Mustafizur Rahman, straight over the bowler’s head, into the sightscreen. Rohit was dropped on 9, when Tamim Iqbal dropped one that should have been taken; Rohit had tried to take the advantage of the short boundary once again, off a short ball from Mustafizur; Rohit didn’t connect well, and the ball went high but well within the field, and though Iqbal reached where the ball was coming, he dropped it. Rohit had been dropped on four against England two days ago, and he went on to score 98 more then. Today he added 95 after the drop.

Pant strikes

India played three wicketkeepers in the XI today — Dinesh Karthik got his World Cup debut at age 34. He’d been part of the Indian squad at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups, but didn’t get a game then. Today he got into the team, finally, replacing Kedar Jadhav. Jadhav had been unable to do much in the game against England — not that much could have been done at that stage.

The third wicketkeeper in the XI today was Rishabh Pant, who got his World Cup debut in the previous game at this venue, against England.

Pant rocked today. Even as the predominantly Indian crowd at the ground egged Dhoni on, asking and imploring him to hit sixers and fours, it was Pant who actually struck a six among the three wicketkeepers today. Pant’s 48 off 41 balls was the one big factor India got past 310; Dhoni made 35 off 33, but the failure of Hardik Pandya cost India dear.

India managed only 63 off the final 10 overs, a very inadequate performance in the final 10 overs. Mustafizur ended up with five wickets, a deserved reward for excellent bowling.

Bangla fight

The Bangladesh batsmen put up a spirited fight — Shakib Al Hasan top-scored with 66 off 74 balls, but it was No. 8 Mohammad Saifuddin who gave India a bit of a scare with 51 off 38 balls. Even as the required run-rate soared to 9.53, Saifuddin fought hard, he and Sabbir Rahman taking out Mohammed Shami for 17 runs in the 38th over. An edged four at third man of Yuzvendra Chahal, and a hard pull of Hardik Pandya kept Saifuddin going. Their partnership of 66 for the seventh wicket made the Bangladesh fans go delirious; Bumrah turned the feeling into agony with a slow ball that deceived Rahman. Saifuddin didn’t give up, and it was only two wickets in two balls by Bumrah that ended the Bangla fight, and their hope of reaching the semifinals. Bumrah will seek his hat-trick when India play Sri Lanka on July 6.

7TH Time India have made it to the World Cup semis (1983, 1987, 1996, 2003, 2011, 2015 and 2019). Only Australia have done it on more occasions (8)

3RD Consecutive time India have qualified for the World Cup semifinals

2ND Indian batsman — Rohit Sharma — to score 500-plus runs in one edition after Sachin Tendulkar’s 523 runs in 1996 and 673 runs in the 2003 World Cup

1ST Indian — Rohit Sharma — to score four hundreds in a single edition of World Cup. He equalled Kumar Sangakkara’s record of hitting four centuries, in 2015 World Cup

Most tons in WC history

Rohit Sharma is the fastest to score 5 tons in World Cup

6 S Tendulkar (44 innings)

5 K Sangakkara (35 innings)

5 R Ponting (42 innings)

5 R Sharma (15 innings)

180 Run partnership between Rohit and Rahul is the highest for India in WC matches, beating 174 between Rohit and Shikhar vs Ireland in 2015. Overall, this is the highest partnership in this edition of World Cup

1ST Player — Rohit— to hit a hat-trick of ODI 100s at a venue in England and second Indian with a hat-trick of ODI 100s at a venue. Kohli has 3 at Colombo

1ST Player — Shakib Al Hasan — in WC history to claim 10-plus wickets and score 500-plus runs in a single edition. Kiwi Scott Styris scored 499 runs and took 9 wickets in 2007