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 of 20,000-odd fans celebrated the Christmas eve witnessing the “HitMan” carnage, which included 18 fours and nine sixes with Mumbai chasing down a target of 237 in just 30.3 overs.
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. It started with a trademark pull-shot over mid-wicket off Kranthi for a boundary, followed by a swivel pull shot off his hips. The pacers lacked sting and twice, seamer Palzor's 125 kmph deliveries were swept fine behind the square for sixes.
Rohit played a few late cuts against the spinners using the pace of their deliveries. He was dropped twice, but Rohit remained undeterred and always found a way to bisect the gaps at will. 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, " This was a good shot. I should not have played this shot in that area," Sikkim skipper Le Yong Lepcha said.
Rohit had two partnerships, one that yielded 141 runs for the opening stand with Angkrish Raghuvansi (38 of 56 balls) and another 75 with debutant Musheer Khan (27).
Abhishek scores 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 the 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.
Also read: Rohit Sharma sets record for most sixes in ODI history
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