His 32nd ODI ton leads India to series-clinching win; Kohli flops on return
Cuttack: Under pressure with questions over form and mounting retirement speculations, skipper Rohit Sharma silenced it all with a vintage 32nd century, firing India to a dominant four-wicket series-clinching victory over England in the second ODI, here on Sunday.
Opting to bat on a belter, England were bowled out for 304 in 49.5 overs with left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (3/35) continuing his stranglehold over the visitors.
The 37-year-old Indian skipper made the chase a lopsided affair, returning to his World Cup 2023 best with impeccable timing and effortless strokeplay en route to his 90-ball 119 — his century No 32 in ODIs that came just in time ahead of the Champions Trophy in less than two weeks.
His 90-ball masterclass, studded with seven sixes and 12 fours, set the tone as India cruised to the target in 44.3 overs to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead going into the final ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Shubman Gill also made a fluent 60 off 52 balls (9×4, 1×6) but it felt overshadowed in comparison to Rohit in their solid opening partnership of 136 runs — their sixth century-plus stand together.
Back after missing out the Nagpur ODI because of a swollen knee, star batter Virat Kohli (5) fell cheaply edging an Adil Rashid leg-break. Rashid has now got Kohli four times in ODIs.
Rohit then had a fruitful 70-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (44) before he was dismissed off a full toss with Rashid taking a fine backward running catch.
Iyer soon departed following a runout, while KL Rahul (10) and Hardik Pandya (10) also fell cheaply.
But there was hardly any run-rate pressure and Axar Patel (41 not out) held his ground as he along with Ravindra Jadeja (11 not out) completed the formalities with 33 balls to spare.
Rohit’s knock also saw him surpass (10,987) Rahul Dravid’s 10,889 runs to enter the top-10 ODI run-scorers’ list. He now requires 13 runs to complete 11,000 ODI runs.
This was also his second fastest hundred. His fastest was a 63-ball hundred against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja continued his stranglehold over English batters with brilliant figures of 3/35 as India bowled out the visitors for a sub-par 304 after opting to bat.
On a belter, Jadeja’s crucial breakthroughs came against the run of play as he dismissed an aggressive Ben Duckett (65 off 56 balls) and a well-set Joe Root (69 off 72 balls), preventing England from building on their strong start.
