Rohit Sharma raced away to his fastest fifty - of 34 balls - filling the early aggressor's void left by Shikhar Dhawan's injury ©AFP
Rohit Sharma hundreds can be placed on a snooze button, surely by now. He's become a run-making phenomenon in the last three years, scoring 16 centuries, and almost each of that inning has been characterised by clockwork precision. You'd find it hard to remember a hundred of Rohit's other than the times he's gone on to double them over. You watch them, and a few shots are bound to stick in your mind. The pull shot? Yes. The dab down to third man, most definitely and maybe a few more.
Some of that could be just because of the way he bats. Assured, calm and calculated. There's no frenzy in the running, nor between balls. But he'll keep hitting the boundary when it's needed, upping the ante when he crosses fifty, usually catching you by surprise. And then, once he's past the 100-run mark, the focus is back on the big question - can he pull off a 200 again? It's what the best of ODI batsmen do in their prime.
That's the Rohit model. At least, that has been the case so far. But then, he's also had to find more than just his comfort zone. "I think I have played more than 200-odd ODIs now. If I don't do it now, then when?" is how the man himself jokingly explained his contrasting hundred in India's tournament opener against South Africa.
