IND vs AUS: ‘Hitman’ saves the day for India

Rohit Sharma (PC: Twitter)

India and Australia faced off in the second match of the T20I series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association, Nagpur. 

The series was on the line for India and they needed to win the match in order to stay alive in the three match series. Much to the disappointment of the fans the match was shortened due to rain and the two teams were allotted 8 overs each.

The visitors were put into bat after India won the toss. In their allotted 8 overs Australia scored 90 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. The prime architect of the innings was Matthew Wade who scored 43 runs off 20 balls. 

Rohit Sharma’s brilliance

While chasing a required run rate of 11.37, Rohit Sharma came out all guns blazing. In the very first over Rohit hit two humongous sixes against Hazlewood and made his intentions clear. 

Despite the knock being a positive and aggressive one, it was not all about blind hitting. First of all the trademark elegance of Rohit was very much visible during the innings. 

Rohit Sharma's innings progression

Rohit set the tone with his aggressive approach at the beginning. After that the other Indian batters came in and tried to maintain the flow of the game as a result Rohit faced a drought of strike.

But in the 6th over of the innings, Rohit hit two boundaries and released the pressure building on the team. To have a better idea of Rohit’s approach during the knock let us look at his scoring areas. 

Rohit Sharma's scoring areas

The scoring areas suggest that it was a normal day at the office for Rohit. At the beginning of the innings when the Australians tried to attack him with the short balls he used the square leg and the behind square area. As he settled down he distributed his shots all throughout the ground. The mid-wicket regions was much expectedly his favourite during the knock.

Conclusion

In conclusion we can say that the Indian skipper came up with a gem of a knock under pressure and helped his team to win. The way he attacked at the start put India way ahead in the chase. It was a vintage Rohit innings if the quality of the shots were concerned and the approach was a representation of the new Indian approach of being positive from the outset. 

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