Rohit Sharma celebrated his return to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring a 62-ball century for Mumbai against Sikkim on Wednesday. Rohit struck 8 fours and 8 sixes, and counting, and batted without breaking a sweat playing his first List-A non-India match after eight years. Rohit’s return to the tournament was celebrated with aplomb, and his stay on the field during the first innings of the Mumbai vs Sikkim was nothing short of a festival as Christmas came a day early in Jaipur.
The former India captain, playing his first VHT game since 2017, was the apple of everyone’s eyes as fans turned up in numbers to witness their beloved cricketers, potentially for the last time in their city. Each and every movement of Rohit’s was cheered with pomp and slogans. Sample this. A crowd of 7,000 was expected for the match, but at least 10,000 showed up, with most inside the venue and a sea of others outside, flooding the stadium. All because of one man.
The fact that Rohit came back to play VHT evoked the same madness from the public as Virat Kohli’s return to Ranji early this year. And with Kohli playing for Delhi in closed doors, all the attention was single-handedly on Rohit. Even as fans waited for his turn to bat, the public was on its feet. But while chants of “Rohit, Rohit” were on expected lines, the Jaipur crowd also broke into a chant directed at India head coach Gautam Gambhir.
“Gambhir dekh raha hai na Rohit ka jalwa? (Is Gambhir watching Rohit’s stardom?),” a section of the crowd chanted, as reported by Sportstar. The equation between Rohit and Gambhir has become one of the most talked-about chapters in Indian cricket. Although nothing official, the current team management, including Gambhir and the BCCI chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and Rohit, Kohli, don’t seem to be seeing eye to eye. With the BCCI making it mandatory for Indian cricketers to play more domestic cricket, Kohli and Rohit were asked to do the same, as were the rest of the players, such as Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, and India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill. Even Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube will be taking part for Mumbai at some stage of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
In other news
Rohit and Kohli weren’t the only ones making the news. Against Arunachal Pradesh in Ranchi, local boy Vaibhav Suryavanshi put on a batting performance for the ages, first smashing a 36-ball hundred and becoming the youngest centurion in the history of List A cricket. Suryavanshi was batting on 190 when the world record for the fastest white-ball ton seemed a possibility, but he missed the mark by 10 runs; yet, he did enough to ensure Bihar were on their way to something special. After Suryavanshi’s dismissal, captain Sakibul Gani tore the record books, blasting a 32-ball century – the fastest ever in Vijay Hazare Trophy history to cement his place in history. With Ayush Loharuka scoring a third hundred in the innings, Bihar posted a colossal 574/6 from 50 overs, which is now a record for the highest total in any form of one-day cricket match.
Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan celebrated his India return with a blistering 33-ball century, just days after leading Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali title. He did so while batting at No. 6 against Karnataka. The Indians are on fire, and with Rohit already completing his 100 and Kohli a half-century, the day promises to end with a lot more records and memorable moments.
