‘Six-hitting not as easy as it looks’

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News service

Mohali, December 13

As Rohit Sharma walked back to the pavilion, unconquered on 208, almost every Sri Lankan player ran towards him to congratulate him. They had been left totally battered and bruised by the stand-in India skipper — he hammered a total of 13 fours and 12 sixes in his 153-ball knock, and took just 36 balls to race from hundred to the double hundred, smashing an incredible 11 sixes — yet they couldn’t resist the temptation to acknowledge and appreciate the special knock. Only seven double hundreds have been scored in the ODIs, and Sharma has scored three of them!

If the Lankan players looked impressed, their support staff sounded completely overwhelmed. “One of the best knocks I’ve ever seen. I saw his last double against us on TV, that was great too, but I guess this was even better, he got his second hundred in just 36 balls,” said Thilan Samaraweera, Lanka’s batting coach. Asked if he thought Sharma was the best six-hitting batsman around at the moment, Samaraweera let out a hearty laugh, “Well, he has to be, he smashed so many today.”

Sharma’s six-hitting credentials are already well documented, but today’s knock will make them even more impeccable. The ease and frequency with which he sent the ball soaring over the boundary was simply unbelievable. At one stage, as he galloped from 100 to his double hundred, his six consecutive scoring shots were sixes – four smashed of Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka’s best bowler, and two of Nuwan Pradeep. Yes, the Sri Lankans didn’t bowl well, in fact they were very ordinary. But maybe Sharma’s onslaught was responsible, at least to some extent, for making them look so pedestrian. Not many bowlers can think straight under such a fierce assault.

Smashing sixes seemed like a child’s play for Sharma. Or was it?  “Nothing is easy in cricket. Maybe when you watch it on TV, it looks easier. But it is not,” said Sharma. “You have to use your brain and time the ball, play around with the field. I don’t have the power of Dhoni, Gayle or AB de Villiers. I need to stick to my strength, which is timing and playing with the field.”