Mumbai opener Rohit Sharma stole the limelight on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy with over 20,000 spectators at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium celebrating on Christmas Eve as he hammered a 94-ball 155 to help Mumbai outclass Sikkim by eight wickets.
Batting first, riding on wicketkeeper-batter Ashish Thapa’s 87-ball 79 (8×4), Sikkim posted 236-7 in the allotted 50 overs. Mumbai skipper Shardul Thakur claimed 2-19. In reply, thanks to Rohit’s attacking knock — his 37th List A century, laced with 18 fours and nine sixes — Mumbai emerged victors in just 30.3 overs.
Thapa, who was part of Rohit’s dismissal, catching him behind the stumps off pacer Kranthi Kumar (1-60), reckoned it was a big learning to watch the India stalwart from close quarters. “It was an effortless, flawless innings. His [Rohit] timing and shot selection was superb. Earlier, I had just watched him bat on TV, but today [Wednesday] I was just behind him, observing his action, his stance, back-lift, his judgment etc. I got to learn so many things watching him bat so closely. His batting is so simple; he hits the balls which are in his range and takes singles off good deliveries. He never failed to punish the bad balls. His century taught us that even by playing a simple game, you can score big,” Thapa told mid-day over the phone from Jaipur on Wednesday.
Ashish Thapa
“I congratulated him after his century and wanted to speak with him later, but he left the ground immediately after getting out. I wanted to ask him about his mindset while batting and how he tackles the pressure situations. We are fortunate that we got a chance to play against a big star like Rohit and the other Mumbai players. We never ever dreamt of this, but God is great so we got this opportunity,” Thapa said. Despite being on the losing side, it was a game to remember for Thapa, 31, as he matched his highest List A score of 79.
“I’m delighted to get my best score against a team like Mumbai. I had achieved my highest score against Meghalaya in 2021 and matched that today. It was a nice batting track. I batted patiently in the morning while rotating the stwrike and later, went after the bowling. When I was batting, Rohit was fielding in the slips and when I hit a shot, I saw him doing shadow practice of the same shot, so that was very pleasing,” said Thapa, who got out off pacer Thakur through Shams Mulani.
62
No of balls Rohit Sharma took to complete his century on Wednesday — his fastest in List A cricket, bettering his previous best of a 63-ball hundred vs Afghanistan in 2023
Brief scores
Sikkim 236-7 in 50 overs (A Thapa 79, S Thakur 2-19) lost to Mumbai 237-2 in 30.3 overs (R Sharma 155, A Raghuvanshi 38) by 8 wickets
