Ranking Rohit Sharma’s greatest innings for India
Rohit Sharma is starting to be talked about amongst India’s greatest limited overs batsman in history. This is for good reason. Sharma finds ways to consistently score runs for India in the colored clothing and is one of the main reason for India’s limited overs success over the last 5 years or so. As an opening batsman, it is Sharma’s temperament that sets him apart. Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle are the only other ODI opening batsman who can score scores of 150+ at a rate as consistent as Rohit Sharma.
Throughout this article, I will rank the 4 innings that I believe to be Rohit Sharma’s greatest in his career to date. They may not be his highest scores, but they will be his most impressive given his teams' circumstances, and the impact the innings has on the match situation.
#4 209 vs Australia at Bangalore in November 2013
Let me set the scene for this innings. It was the 7th and deciding ODI match of the series between India and Australia. Before this match, there had only been 2 double centurions in ODI history. India was sent in to bat by Australia in what was a puzzling decision by skipper George Bailey. The pitch looked good and had no obvious demons in it.
As Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan walked out to bat, no one in the ground would have imagined what was to come. It was absolute carnage. Sharma pummelled 16 sixes and 12 fours on his way to 209 before finally being dismissed in the last over on the innings. His runs came off just 158 balls. His strike rate was a ridiculous 132 runs scored per 100 balls faced. The fact that this was a series-deciding match is what makes this so impressive. Because of Sharma’s batting India went on to win the series that would go down as one of the highest scoring ODI series in history.
Unsurprisingly, Sharma was named the man of the match for his efforts in setting Australia a mammoth 383 runs to chase.