Generally when we mention the term “Chase master”, we talk about Virat Kohli and that’s fair enough as Kohli has made match winning impact for India on a number of occasions while chasing big scores.
But, in the last few years, Kohli’s deputy Rohit Sharma has been very, very effective in chases as well.
Here are the 5 innings which prove Rohit is also a chase master in international cricket –
141 against Australia
Australia had set India a target of 360 runs in the second ODI of the series which was played in Jaipur and although it was a flat deck, it was never going to be an easy chase for India without a good start.
Rohit and Shikhar played wonderfully well at the top of the order and put together a century partnership before Virat Kohli launched a brutal onslaught at no. 3 and took the game completely away from Australia.
Rohit remained unbeaten at the crease with Virat as India won that game by 9 wickets. Rohit was declared the man of the match for his innings of 141.
152 against West Indies
The men in blue were up against West Indies in Guwahati and were chasing a score of over 300 again.
The batting conditions were not very easy as there was a little bit of seam movement for the bowlers early on, but Rohit and Virat put on an absolute exhibition of strokeplay.
Virat was slightly more aggressive at the start and reached his three figure mark before Rohit, but it was Rohit who stayed at the crease till the very end and dragged India over the line, remaining unbeaten at 152.
122 against South Africa
It was India’s first game in the ODI World Cup last year and although they restricted South Africa to a modest score bowling first, they lost a couple of wickets early in reply and needed someone to hold one end.
Rohit put his hand up and did the job for India again. It was not one of his fluent knocks, but was definitely one of his best because it came in a World Cup against a very strong bowling attack.
Rohit took 144 deliveries to score 122 runs in that game, but it proved to be a match winning knock at the end.
100 against England
It was the third game of the T20I series between India and England in 2018 and was the series decider as well, as both the teams had won one game each before that.
Batting first, England put 198 on the board which was a challenging score, but Rohit’s hundred in reply tilted the game in India’s favor.
Rohit scored 100 off just 56 balls with 11 fours and 5 sixes as India chased down the target in just 18.4 overs.
85 against Bangladesh
It was the second game of the T20I series between India and Bangladesh in November last year and it was a bit of a pressure game for India because they had lost the first game of the series and the series was on the line.
Since Virat Kohli was not playing in that series, the onus was on Rohit to make sure India didn’t lose that game and he played a perfect captain’s knock while responding to Bangladesh’s score of 153 in the second T20I.
Opening the batting for India, Rohit scored 85 runs off just 43 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes and the men in blue easily chased down the target with plenty of deliveries in hand.
