Massacre at Eden Gardens

Only player to achieve the feat in ODIs

Hyderabad: November 13 of this year will go down as a momentous day not only in the annals of world cricket but also in Andhra Pradesh, thanks to the brutal marauding that was executed by Visakhapatnam native Rohit Sharma who reduced the Lankan tigers to hapless lambs ready to slaughtered. If it was butchery of the ruthless kind, the full house in the City of Joy went into raptures as the one-man demolition squad went about taking the bowlers by the scruff of their necks without regret or remorse. It was an uncharacteristic innings by Indian standards and surprising because it was unleashed by a batsman who was least expected to come up with such flamboyance.

In what was a magnificent blend of Viv Richards’ savagery and Sunil Gavaskar’s near copy-book perfection, Sharma did not just set the tone for the Men in Blue’s massive total of 404 but actually lowered almost all One-Day International batting records on a day when he was unstoppable and could do show no respect to the bowlers.

In terms of butchery, it was an innings that ferocious hitters like Sanath Jayasuriya and Virender Sehwag would be proud of considering that the 264 came from 173 balls and included a staggering 33 hits to the fence and nine massive heaves over the ropes.

For the records India notched up their fourth successive victory to take a 4-0 lead in the five-game series against Sri Lanka, which was shot out for 251 and lost by 153 runs on an ill-fated day that would haunt the bowlers all through their life. A Chetan Sharma will vouch for such nightmares having been slaughtered by Javed Miandad decades back.

The destruction brought several records to Sharma, who earlier in the year marshalled the resources of Mumbai Indians to gift Sachin Tendulkar the IPL Trophy and CLT20 Trophy that were missing from the maestro’s cupboard.

Sharma is the only batsman with two double-century innings in ODIs apart from being the highest individual score in this format. Forever losing a deserving berth to the popular names in Team India, and perhaps haunted by this hire and policy system, one should appreciate the timing of the class act because India is eyeing the World Cup that begins in February and he has changed the equations to dramatic levels. One hopes that Rohit Sharma will consolidate his position, earn a place of permanence and emerge as the backbone of the Men in Blue.