Rohit Sharma had forewarned of writing him off in this version just yet. A seven-ball outing in Nagpur may have held the question over his head intact. But in a 142-minute masterclass at the Barabati Stadium on Sunday, the Indian captain wiped out detractors and England's 304-run defence with his 32nd ODI century. First-game heroes Shubman Gill (60) and Shreyas Iyer (44) chipped in before India claimed a four-wicket victory and the series win with 33 balls to spare. On a day where the pacers were blunted by the England top-order, Ravindra Jadeja’s metronomic 3/35 had earlier denied the visitors a higher finish. When the local media reacted with rapturous applause to an early Rohit maximum, a couple of their English counterparts were left wondering if they were teleported to the Western Terrace back home at Headingley for a moment. For the Indian captain though, Sunday was all about reconnecting with happier times from not so long ago.𝙄. 𝘾. 𝙔. 𝙈. 𝙄1⃣1⃣9⃣ Runs 9⃣0⃣ Balls 1⃣2⃣ Fours 7⃣ Sixes Captain Rohit Sharma dazzled and how! ✨ ✨ Relive that stunning 𝗧𝗢𝗡 🎥 🔽 #TeamIndia | #INDvENG | @ImRo45 | @IDFCFIRSTBank — BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025The distance seemed to grow larger with every passing innings since last October, but in an eye-popping reboot of the senses, Rohit ticked back to the 2023 home World Cup mode, butchering pace and the new ball to shreds in the V.Balletic belligerencePerhaps his balletic belligerence was a touch overwhelming for the cricket-deprived Cuttack scribes or it was the simple joy of collectively forming an atmosphere that provided a lifeline to another waning international career, as they did in 2017 when Yuvraj Singh cracked 150 in his comeback ODI series after four years. Rohit’s first six had teased glimpses of a better zone. The flick had betrayed him in the first game, in the Ranji Trophy and in Australia too. But when Gus Atkinson came firing on length in the second over, Rohit unfurled the chip over the 30-yard circle with precision. With the shuffle inside the crease from outside leg to the off-stump on point and the right amount of muscle finally meeting the Kookaburra, Rohit eventually dispatched an international six after four months. The synapses fell back magically when Rohit flayed Saqib Mahmood over extra cover for another maximum in the next over and followed with another smite down the ground soon after. Even a half-an-hour floodlight fiasco could not disrupt Rohit’s tempo thereafter as India climbed to fifty within seven overs. Bossing his equation with Gill once again, Rohit craved more aerial spaces to unsettle Jos Buttler’s English attack.🚨 Most ODI Hundreds in Men's Cricket 🚨A legendary list with three #TeamIndia batters in the 🔝 three! Follow The Match ▶️ | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/069XQO7y2J — BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2025The template was an all too familiar sight in the World Cup year in 2023 where Gill blossomed as a patient accumulator and Rohit stupefied oppositions with his spell-binding six-hitting range. With his manic short balls lacking the usual venom on a slightly soft Cuttack strip, Mark Wood explored the fuller lengths as Rohit pummelled a yorker-length delivery over long-on for another six with economic movement. Rohit and Gill raised their sixth hundred-run stand in only 27 games together within 14 overs. While Gill and a returning Virat Kohli’s dismissals in succession had temporarily muted him, Rohit sped to his century by biffing Wood and leggie Adil Rashid into the crowd, the 76-ball century marking the second quickest of his career.Jadeja spinWhile he saw off a brief middle-order wobble and sealed the chase alongside Axar Patel (41 not out) with a rasping drive through cover, it was Jadeja’s inimitable middle-overs presence with the ball that helped the hosts make up for the poor lengths over which the pacers operated. As Mohammad Shami, Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya’s waning lengths outside the stumps played to the strengths of England openers Ben Duckett and Phil Salt, India had to fall back on Jadeja’s simplicity to fight back. Heading into the Champions Trophy, the left-arm spinner has reimposed himself as India’s lead white-ball spinner in the set-up with successive three-fors as Kuldeep Yadav has yet to regain his wicket-taking rhythm. Fifty per cent of his 10 overs jotted with dot balls, Jadeja outgunned half-centurions Duckett (65) and Joe Root at crucial junctures to keep England at least 30 short on a wicket that held shape reasonably well throughout. While their cross-batted range had worked spectacularly against the pacers after winning the toss, Buttler’s men could not sustain the momentum at the death where Rohit banked on more overs of spin to close out the innings. Liam Livingstone’s late charge against Mohammad Shami and Harshit Rana added 43 runs in the last four, but a quiet five-over stretch between overs 42 and 46 denied another comprehensive finish. Jadeja nipped out the well-set Root (69) and Jamie Overton in successive overs while Varun Chakaravarthy and Axar Patel combined to concede only 18 from as many deliveries. Even as a 300-plus finish would have held competitive on a track that was slightly sluggish and offered turn in the absence of dew after sunset, the English plans were expertly warped by Rohit’s magical reminder. This was indeed a “different format, a different time”.
