Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26
Group C
Jaipur, Dec 24: Rohit Sharma made a mockery of an inexperienced Sikkim bowing attack with a 94-ball-155 on his return to List A cricket, as Mumbai cruised to an eight-wicket victory in their opening Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.
A near capacity crowd witnessed the ‘HitMan’ carnage, which included 18 fours and nine sixes with Mumbai chasing down a target of 237 in just 30.3 overs.
Truth be told, there was not much to write home about Sikkim’s bowling unit with Palzor Tamang, Kranthi Kumar, Gurinder Singh and Ankur Malik looking overawed or clueless from the moment Rohit took guard.
The pacers lacked sting and twice, seamer Palzor’s 125 kmph deliveries were swept fine behind the square for sixes.
Rohit also hit some delectable straight shots leaving the Sikkim bowlers in complete awe.
“It is the best day of our lives as we shared the pitch with such a great cricketer. He respected the good balls and punished the poor deliveries. At times he would speak to himself and say, ‘Yeh achha delivery thaa. Yeh shot mujhe waaha nahi yehaan marna chhiye thaa (This was a good ball. I should not have played this shot in that area),’” Sikkim skipper Le Yong Lepcha said.
Rohit had two partnership, one that yielded 141 runs for the opening stand with Angkrish Raghuvansi (38 of 56 balls) and another 75 with debutant Musheer Khan (27).
‘Hitman’ Carnival
Rohit Sharma was doing Rohit Sharma things on a balmy December afternoon.
He played the swivel pull, the effortlessly lofted six down the ground, and swept the pacers from Sikkim for a good measure, as ‘Hitman’ lovers in the Pink City got the best present on Christmas Eve.
On a weekday, around 20,000-plus people from the city decided that the best thing to do was to watch the maestro in action – and that too for free.
His 37th List A hundred wasn’t just about the quality. It was also about the entertainment quotient.
It resembled a concert where fans had come to watch their favourite singer belt out one chartbuster after another.
It wasn’t about the BCCI diktat, or proving anything to the national selectors, or a head coach who wants to “abolish star culture”.
The day was all about a hero and his fans, and by the time they left the stadium, 18 fours and nine sixes from the former India skipper had more than satiated their appetite.
By 9 am, all roads led to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. On the morning of a working day, if 80 per cent of a stadium is full, you can understand why stars are so intrinsic to Indian cricket.
People skipped jobs, students bunked college, and Rajasthan Sports Council employees, who had the best view from the balconies of their building, didn’t want to be left out either.
The now-familiar chants of “Mumbai chaa Rajaa Rohit Sharma” (Mumbai’s King Rohit Sharma) reverberated across the stands as fans caught a glimpse of the star.
Once the crowd came to know that Mumbai were fielding, a few thousand left with a prayer on their lips that Sikkim would show enough batting firepower to allow them to watch their hero bat to their heart’s content.
Then there were the aggressive Rohit loyalists who started shouting, “Gambhir kidhar hai, dekh raha hai na?” (Gautam Gambhir, where are you, are you watching, right?).
It could also well have been directed at national selector RP Singh, who was sitting near the boundary line.
Once news spread that Sikkim had scored a decent 236 for seven, the atmosphere changed.
There were no empty seats across three stands, save the one above the dressing room, which was closed for security reasons.
There were also enough people willing to put their bones and joints at risk, sitting precariously on the edge of the terrace atop the Sports Council building.
They didn’t care if Raghuvanshi existed – every dot ball he played was met with boos.
But once Rohit hit his first pick-up swivel pull behind square off Kranthi, the decibel levels rose.
Finally, Kranthi’s wide delivery found the edge of his bat.
It was a tired-looking shot. But there had been enough entertainment on a working day, and fans began to vacate the stands thereafter.
The Hitman carnival was over for the day, but not before another customised Rohit Sharma rhyme echoed across the venue: “Dal Baati Choorma, Rohit Sharma Soorma.”
The ‘Soorma’ (master) will have another concert on Friday, and it promises to be another houseful.
Abhishek contributes 48 in Punjab’s win
Skipper Abhishek Sharma contributed 48 off 45 balls but it was Naman Dhir who stole the show with a fine 97 off 78 balls as Punjab beat Maharashtra by 51 runs in another group league game.
Punjab scored 347 for six largely due to contribution from Dhir along with Singh cousins – Anmolpreet (85 off 78 balls) and Prabhsimran (60 off 77 balls).
In reply, Maharashtra managed 296 for 8 with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (1) enduring a rare failure. (PTI)
