LUCKNOW: Rohit Sharma's approach to powerplay batting at this World Cup has had an element of cut-copy-paste to it. He has frequently gone downtown or pulled in front and behind square. What he hasn't done is given the opposition bowlers time to hone in on a spot.
If he played some of his biggest hits till Sunday, Sunday needed something different. If it was metal for the first five group games, jazz was what was required in front of a sea of blue.
As the harsh late October sun blazed down on a two-paced surface, the hosts, setting a target for the first time, were in real danger of losing their winning streak. While the hosts are sitting pretty in terms of qualification, finishing top is key, especially as it looks like Australia may sneak into third place when the league stage is over. So, on a sluggish red-soil surface, Sharma got to work in a way he has seldom done after becoming captain in this format. He played out two maidens inside the first seven overs (the Men In Blue had played out only one coming into the match).
While Shubman Gill's wicket was sandwiched between the two maidens, this wasn't going to be a wicket conducive to strokeplay. Moments after Sharma raised his broad blade to leave a delivery — a collector's item — Virat Kohli tried and failed to force the pace. His attempt at lofting David Willey after coming down the track failed to clear Ben Stokes at mid-off. When Shreyas Iyer's short stay finished (no prizes for guessing he was dismissed while going for an ill-timed pull off a back of a length delivery just outside off), the Indian skipper had to show another facet of his batting. He had already two hit sixes and as many fours but this was going to be a different challenge.
Coming into the tournament, Sharma had wanted the middle-order to be prepared for '10/3 scenarios'. This wasn't quite as bleak but 40/3 inside 12 overs was close enough. The captain had already suggested just how difficult the surface was. In 2022, he had a strike-rate of 100.68 inside the first powerplay. Coming into this game, he had elevated that to 113.81. After the end of the first 10 at Lucknow? It was 80.
After feasting for a long time, it was time for the grind. When Mark Wood was brought on in the 16th over, there were two fielders out at fine-leg and long-leg. Was it going to be the double bluff? Instead, the pacer, who cranked it up to 145kmph, went wide and pitched it up. Sharma was a little late and it seemed adjacent enough when he was adjudged leg-before. DRS, however, returned a 'missing' verdict much to the relief of the capacity crowd. The very next ball, a short and wide delivery, was cut behind square. This was an all-terrain batter showing exactly why he had become the most important wicket in the line-up. Setting the tempo? Call R. SOS? Call R. Disrupting the rhythm of the bowler? Call R. Scoring hard runs? Call R.
At various stages of the 36-year-old's innings, the mind was transported back to his classy 161 on the first day of the 2nd Test at Chennai in 2021. Even as other batters struggled to come to grips with the conditions and the bowlers, the opener was seemingly batting on a different postcode. He came down the wicket, slog-swept the spinners and hit them inside out over cover. He unfurled both of those shots apart from bringing out the lesser-spotted reverse sweep against Adil Rashid. It's not a conventional Sharma shot but the strip called for some improvisation and he was happy to indulge.
The shot of the innings, though, was a pick-up off Wood over long-leg. It was all gossamer touch — one should ideally explain it to the Louvre authorities as to why the shot deserves its place next to the Monalisa — of a brain surgeon. But unlike the Chennai innings, this one was cut short as he holed out to deep mid-wicket off Adil Rashid for 87. But not before doing his bit.