Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma in action against Sikkim during the Vijay Hazare Trophy Cricket Match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Wednesday. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras)
Rohit Sharma enjoyed a blockbuster return to domestic cricket duties as he cracked a century in 62 balls against Sikkim in his first Vijay Hazare Trophy appearance in seven years for Mumbai on Wednesday.
Setting to gun down Sikkim’s 236-run total in Jaipur, Rohit sped off the blocks with a steady flow of sixes and fours and made light work of the challenge. Closing in on 14,000 runs in the 50-over format, the century was Rohit’s 37th ton in List A cricket, his fourth besides the 33 centuries in international colours for India.
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The century is also his fastest in the format, bettering the 63-ball hundred against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
After four hours of build up to his innings, the crowd that had swollen to almost as much as the limited capacity venue at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium can hold. By the time he hit his first six, swivelling to connect with a length ball from Sikkim’s Kranthi Kumar and depositing it in the crowd, the roar was deafening. The one stand that the Rajasthan state association had left open has not been enough, they have opened three more and a conservative estimate would have the number of spectators at over 10,000.
Interestingly, Rohit’s century is his second List A ton for Mumbai, 17 years since his debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, which was rebranded from the domestic 50-overs tournament that was earlier called the Ranji Trophy One Day Trophy before 2008.
Over the course of the last 19 years in his List A career, Rohit has appeared in 19 Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Mumbai. Rohit last turned up for Mumbai seven years ago in 2018, shortly after leading India to the Asia Cup title. The Mumbai batting heavyweight appeared in the quarter-final and semi-final matches against Bihar and Hyderabad with the team winning both games comfortably. Rohit aggregated 49 runs in both games, remaining unbeaten on 32 against Bihar.
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The 38-year-old Rohit, now only playing the ODI format, seemingly wishes to have one last shot at a World Cup title, with cricket’s marquee tournament taking place in two years’ time in South Africa-Namibia-Zimbabwe. The question over his form has been answered: three of his four innings since the Australia series have been 50+ scores. That includes a match-winning, unbeaten 121 in the third ODI in Australia in Sydney, and two half-centuries in India’s 2-1 home series win over South Africa.
Rohit brought up his 150 in 91 balls in Jaipur, on the back of 18 fours and nine sixes across the park. Known for his daddy hundreds in ODIs in the previous decade, this was the first time Rohit had crossed the 150-run mark in a 50-over innings since his 159 against the West Indies in late 2019.
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