Rohit’s ‘love tryst’ with Eden continues unabated : Well he has done it yet again. Eden Garden is more than a ‘home ground’ for the Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper, Rohit Sharma.
Undaunted by the stiff target of 188 runs set by the hosts, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Rohit led from the front and scored an unbeaten 84* runs off just 54 deliveries with 10 fours and 2 sixes at a strike rate of 155.55 and earned a win for his team after a drubbing given to them by Rising Pune Stars in the tournament opener.
Earlier put into bat, the home team (KKR), after losing Robin Uthappa early on, went on a great consolidation mode with the skipper Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey, striking well.
The duo added 100 runs in 10 overs for the second wicket. Gambhir’s half-century came in 39 deliveries with 3 fours and a six while Pandey brought up his half-ton in 26 deliveries with 3 fours and 3 sixes.
Pandey fell in the 14th over, playing the shot a shade earlier to a low trajectory delivery from the ace offie, Harbhajan Singh, giving him his first wicket in the tournament, after scoring 52 runs off 29 deliveries with 3 fours and 3 sixes at the team score of 164/3.
Six runs later, Hardik Pandya had Gambhir caught behind by Parthiv Patel, trying to play a little too early and getting a leading edge, but not before he (Gambhir) had notched up 64 runs off 52 deliveries with 4 fours and a six at 123.07 strike rate.
A cameo by Andre Russell (36) enabled KKR to end their innings at 187 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs.
KKR were well set to score 200+ but fell short since the lower order could not contribute much.
Mitchell McClenaghan ended with the figure of 4-0-25-2.
Chasing the target, MI meant business from the start. The opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel (23) put on 53 runs in 5.5 overs for the first wicket and set the platform.
Rohit who went on plundering the runs, was ably assisted by McClenaghan (20) and later by Jose Butler (41). Alongwith Butler, Sharma added 66 runs in 6.4 overs for the 4th wicket.
Sharma’s half-ton came in 38 deliveries with 4 fours and 2 sixes and his knock of an unbeaten 84* runs off 54 deliveries aided by 10 fours and 2 sixes won the game for MI by 6 wickets with 5 deliveries to spare.
This knock also earned Rohit, the Player of the Match award.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Rohit said, “”It”s a high-scoring ground anyway. We have played enough cricket to that. They got 10-15 runs extra but we held them up pretty tight in the end. They were up for that 200 mark, our bowlers pulled it back well. Ricky”s idea (McClenghan”s promotion), he was in the dug-out and the left-hander was sent out with legspinners bowling, Mitch being a power-hitter we wanted to use that. We started well with the ball, our fielding needs to improve a little bit. We have seen Buttler play those kind of innings again and again for England. it was my duty, responsibility to bat till the end.”
A visibly dejected Gambhir said, “”We needed to take wickets all the time, we didn”t start well with the ball. We missed our lengths quite often. Credit to Mumbai, they accelerated at the right time. If someone bats through, it was difficult. We thought that spinners would be more effective than the pacers. They just played well, I can”t point out one or two things.”
Rohit Sharma’s ‘love tryst’ with Eden Gardens continues unabated. It s in this ground he scored the world record 264 runs in ODI against Sri Lanka.