His latest effort — an unbeaten 122 against South Africa in India’s opening game of the 2019 World Cup — was rated highly by captain Virat Kohli too as the latter put his foot down and went about his job meticulously. The century also takes Sharma to joint-fourth among ODI centurions in chases along with Tillakaratne Dilshan. Virat Kohli (25 tons), Sachin Tendulkar (17) and Chris Gayle (12) are the three batsmen ahead of Sharma.

The speciality of the innings was the way Sharma was willing to bide his time and play out the difficult overs. With wickets falling around him and the required run-rate slowly creeping up, Sharma did well to ensure that he stayed at the crease and got the team across the line in the end.

With Virat Kohli applauding Rohit Sharma’s effort to get India’s World Cup campaign off to a positive start, Sharma will hold the key to India’s success in the upcoming games as well.

Here, in this slider, we have a look at five of Rohit Sharma’s best innings in ODI cricket that helped India chase down tricky targets in the past.

#5 141* against Australia, Jaipur, 2013

India were set a humongous target of 360 by Australia in second ODI of the bilateral series back in 2013. Rohit Sharma was certainly not his free-flowing self but he did well to pummel the Aussie bowling attack to score an unbeaten 141 off 123 balls and help India win at a canter with 39 balls to spare and for the loss of one wicket. In the process, he smashed 17 fours and four sixes.

There might not have been much in the pitch for the bowlers but to chase down such a huge target six years back was quite a task. In the beginning of India’s innings, Rohit decided to play second fiddle as Shikhar Dhawan went ballistic. However, he picked up the mantle of peppering the boundaries once his opening partner departed.

#4 152* against West Indies, Guwahati, 2018

In 2018, West Indies came touring India and in the first game of the series, a 78-ball 106 from Shimron Hetmyer and a handy half-century from Kieron Powell at the top of the order helped the visitors to 322-8 from 50 overs.

Set a target of 323, West Indies might have thought that they had it in the bag but Rohit Sharma had other ideas. The right-hander did start slow but then made up for it as he went on a rampage, punishing the spinners and pacers with disdain.

With Shikhar Dhawan falling early in the second over, Sharma stitched an important 246-run partnership with Virat Kohli, who himself notched up a wonderful 107-ball 140 as they thrashed a hopeless West Indies bowling unit.

The opener brought up his century in just 84 balls with an exquisite cover drive and just took 32 more balls to bring up his 150, as he finished the match with a six, ending the game with a little less than eight overs to spare. Sharma finished with 152 runs from 117 balls laced with 15 fours and eight sixes.

#3 123* against Bangladesh, 2017 Champions Trophy semifinal

India’s qualification into the semifinals of the 2017 Champions Trophy was at the back of some fantastic batting performances from India’s opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.

However, the semifinal, against Bangladesh was certain to pose a different challenge altogether. With one win, one loss and one washed out game, Bangladesh finished second place on the points table above Australia and New Zealand while India finished on top of Group ‘B’ with two wins and a loss from three games.

Bangladesh batted first and set India a target of 265 with Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim scoring half-centuries in tricky conditions. While the target was quite achieveable, one could not discount the pressure of a knockout match.

However, Rohit Sharma was in the form of his life and made the chase look like a cakewalk. He came out all guns blazing and dominated the Bangladesh bowlers in a masterful fashion. With no Bangladesh bowlers being able to contain him, he brought out all the shots in his book. Even before Bangladesh could realise it, Sharma’s onslaught took them out of the game as he scored his first century of the tournament. Eventually, he made his way to a well-crafted unbeaten 123 off 129 balls, which included 15 boundaries and one six as India won by nine wickets and 59 balls remaining.

#4 99 against Australia, Sydney, 2016

It was the ODI debut for Jasprit Bumrah and the match might be remembered for Manish Pandey’s brilliant century which helped India defeat Australia by wickets in the last ODI.

However, the foundation of the chase was laid by Rohit Sharma. India were coming into the match on the back of a four-match losing streak and Australia were eyeing a whitewash. However, Rohit Sharma was in form and was banked to take India across the line, set a target of 331.

In company of Shikhar Dhawan, Sharma put up a 123-run stand for the first wicket and even as Kohli followed Dhawan soon after to the pavilion, Sharma stood tall and kept his composure, stitched a 97-run stand with Manish Pandey that kept India in the hunt.

Unfortunately for Sharma, he went chasing a wide delivery from John Hastings that took an edge as Matthew Wade completed the catch, leaving him stranded on 99. Yet, Sharma had the laid the platform for an easy India win.

#1 122* against South Africa, 2019 World Cup

In what was India’s opening game of the tournament, the Indian bowlers had done well to restrict South Africa to 227-9, courtesy of a four-wicket haul from Yuzvendra Chahal. However, with the pitch spitting venom and the pacers getting a lot off the surface, the Indian batsmen were certain to face a stern test.

Sharma did have his fair share of luck as a couple of rip-snorters but Kagiso Rabada lobbed off the splice of the bat but landed safely. A couple of edges went away to the boundary as gradually, Sharma settled into his own.

Unperturbed by the loss of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, Sharma maintained his calm and ensured that the bad balls were put away and milked runs, taking a liking towards making the most of the spinners’ poor show on the day.

Rohit Sharma’s mature display of batting ensured that the South African bowlers had to toil hard for wickets, but in the end, were mere spectators of a Rohit Sharma special on the day as the opener finished with a 144-ball unbeaten 122 with 13 fours and two sixes, making him the first Indian batsman to score a century in this World Cup.

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