Rohit Sharma's Revenge: How One Drop Catch Sparked a Spectacular Showdown

(Rohit Sharma after scoring 264 runs in an ODI innings against Sri Lanka)

Cricket Fans in the early days used to watch their team score 260 runs and used to think that it was a winning total because of the way the One Day Internationals were played. Now, the players themselves are scoring more than 200 runs in an inning which shows how much cricket has changed over the years. One such instance came on 13th November 2014 when Rohit Sharma alone managed to score 264 runs in just 173 balls and made the whole crowd go berserk because of the high-quality innings. Scoring a double hundred in an ODI match is always a big achievement and on that day, he broke some of the best records of an ODI innings which made him write his name in the golden letters of the ODI records book.

India vs Sri Lanka: 4th ODI at Eden Gardens

In the year 2014, Sri Lanka toured India for a 5-match ODI series and being two top teams of the format, it was going to be an amazing series for the fans and the players who were looking for some great cricket action. For the Indian team, MS Dhoni was rested and hence Virat Kohli was made the captain of the team to prepare well for the upcoming series against Australia. Talking about the first 3 matches of the series, the Indian team had a 3-0 lead and defeated Sri Lanka comprehensively in all the matches. Now, the 4th ODI was scheduled at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and for the rest of the series, Shikhar Dhawan was rested because of India already being in the lead.

During the toss, Virat Kohli said that Rohit Sharma had been brought back into the side after he was injured before the 2014 England tour while Karn Sharma made his ODI debut at that time. India managed to get the toss in their favour and hence batted first on the fresh wicket of Eden Gardens to score runs in the first innings and then defend them. Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma started the innings and in just the first over, they got 3 boundaries and hence India was off to an amazing start. Coming to the 5th over of the innings, Shaminda Eranga bowled a widish delivery to Rohit Sharma to which he stepped out and hit straight to Thisara Perera at the third man who dropped an absolute easy catch.

(Sri Lankan player's reaction after Rohit Sharma’s catch was dropped)

At this time, Rohit Sharma was at just 4 runs from 16 balls and hence was totally looking out of form during the match. Till the 7th over, the Indian team was at 35-0 and Rohit Sharma was at just 6 runs from the 20 balls played. In the 8th over, Ajinkya Rahane was adjudged LBW and he departed for 28 runs leaving the Indian team at 40-1 and then in the middle, he was joined by Ambati Rayudu. However, this partnership didn’t get many runs and by the end of the 13th over, Rayudu was dismissed for just 8 runs leaving the team at 59-2.

Coming in a bothersome position at the crease, Virat Kohli took charge to stabilise the innings along with Rohit Sharma in the middle. With both the batters knowing each other well, they started off positively and once both of them got set, the boundaries started coming. India reached the 100 runs mark in the 23rd over while Rohit Sharma completed his half-century from 72 balls and celebrated the landmark well. After this, it was a completely changed Rohit Sharma who took the charge and started smashing the Sri Lankan bowlers.

(Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma during their 202 runs partnership against Sri Lanka)

In the next 28 balls, Rohit Sharma completed his century and it had 12 boundaries along with a six which helped the Indian team in the middle. In the starting, he was looking out of form but the way he shaped his innings was impressive. In the meanwhile, the Indian team also crossed the 200 runs mark in the 34th over while at the other end, Virat Kohli reached his half-century of 56 balls. Both the batters were looking really good touch and Rohit Sharma then crossed the 150 runs mark of the 125 balls played.

However, in the same over, there was a miscommunication between both the batters and hence Virat Kohli was run out on 66 runs from just 64 balls played. This came as a major setback for the fans as they were looking forward to seeing Virat Kohli get another century for the team in the series. With this, Rohit Sharma was now joined by Suresh Raina in the middle and with just 11 overs left, the team was now eyeing to get a big score on the board.

(Rohit Sharma celebrates after reaching the 200 runs mark)

Along with Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina also started hitting boundaries against the bowlers but was soon dismissed as Mahela Jayawardene took an amazing catch to get him out for just 11 runs from the 5 balls played. With this wicket, it was finally the turn of Robin Uthappa to join Rohit Sharma in the final 10 overs of the game and he played positively to allow Rohit Sharma to take strike for most of the balls left in the innings. In the 46th over of the game, Rohit Sharma scored a boundary to complete his second double-hundred of his career and it came in 151 balls.

In the last 4 overs, India scored 71 runs and the team ended up with a total of 404 runs from their 50 overs and lost just 5 wickets in the innings. Rohit Sharma scored 264 runs from just 173 balls and was dismissed on the last ball of the innings by Nuwan Kulasekara. The innings became the highest score by any batter in an ODI match and it was possible at the end because of Robin Uthappa who played selflessly by giving the strike to Rohit while he himself scored 16 runs off the 16 balls.

(Rohit Sharma during his 264 runs innings against Sri Lanka)

Amongst the Sri Lankan bowlers, it was only Angelo Matthews who came out economical for the team as he bowled 8 overs for the team and scored just 44 runs while picking up 2 wickets in between. Apart from him, every other bowler had an economy rate of at least 7.00 and hence it was a tough day out for the Sri Lankan team. Even while coming out to chase this total, it was a complete disaster for the Sri Lankan batters as in the first ball itself, they lost the wicket of Kusal Perera for a duck.

After that, there was a collapse from the batting department of the team as they lost 4 wickets for just 48 runs in their first 10 overs and were already out of the game. However, a partnership between Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne allowed the team to stabilise their innings well with a 118-run partnership in the middle overs. But once both of them got out by scoring fifty-plus scores, the team got into a complete mess as Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 251 runs in the 43.1 overs of the game. Dhawan Kulkarni proved to be the best bowler for the team as he picked 4 wickets in 10 overs by giving away 34 runs.

(Indian players celebrating after picking wicket of Sri Lankan batters)

Rohit Sharma was awarded the Man of the Match award for his amazing innings of 264 runs from just 173 balls scoring 33 boundaries and a total of 9 sixes which allowed the Indian team to get such a big total in the match. In the post-match presentation, he said that:

“The fact that I went on to bat 50 overs was absolutely pleasing. I have been working on it. To bat as long as possible. Finally, I managed that. That run-out of Virat was my mistake. Things like that happened, but no hard feelings there. It was a crucial partnership we were building, and to lose him then was quite frustrating. But I kept telling myself to keep on going. It's going to be difficult to pick out one shot that stands out. I really cannot pick out one. I will try my best to get to 300, but as of now, I will take 264. A lot of memories at Eden Gardens that will remain close to me. This one was really special.”

Even the captain of the Indian team, Virat Kohli at that time was shocked to see how Rohit Sharma smashed the Sri Lankan bowlers effortlessly and made sure that the team was doing well while batting first. In the post-match presentation, he said:

“I said in the press conference yesterday that once Rohit gets going he is very dangerous. Today is the kind of day I can tell my kids I was there. I don't think this record is going to be broken anytime soon. I was glad I was batting with him. There was a time when Rohit would admit runs were not coming easily, and I just asked him to take his time. Once he gets to 70-80, he is almost unstoppable. I am quite happy as of now as captain. I have had more wins than losses, but your character is tested only when the team is being tested. That time will come sooner than later. Your character is tested only in bad times. No, we don't want to let up. That's what we are looking to develop as a team culture.”