Rampaging Rohit: Madness, Method & The Sixes

6,6, 4, 6, 0, 6.

That’s Rohit Sharma against Mitchell Starc, arguably one of the best fast bowlers of his generation, in just the third over of the game at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia the other day. Sheer madness, some awestruck cricket lover would conclude. But those familiar with Rohit’s game would pin it to mind, muscle and method. He has done the marauding act so often in his career that it cannot just be one those fleeting phases when the batsman gets the alignment of luck and pluck right.

When the likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell send the cricket ball to high altitude, one immediately attributes it to raw power, all muscle and brute force. Not so in the case of Rohit. The words ‘sublime’ and ‘graceful’ quickly come into play. His power comes with a lot of method. Starc would agree. With no swing on offer, he would have anticipated a tough outing, but he would not have expected such a brutally calculated offensive.

There’s something about Rohit, the Hit Man as they call him. Something very special. We saw it all through the ODI World Cup in India. He was the man demolishing bowling attacks in the initial overs, making it easier for batsmen after him to settle down and keep the momentum going. Virat Kohli is all class, but if one was given the option to choose someone to play the arsonist, it has to be Rohit, not Virat. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya can be destructive but they are more instinctive than methodical. Rohit is a planner, and he has the skills to execute plans.

And he is the one to take the responsibility, put his neck on the line. That is a leadership trait difficult to find.

Coming to sixes, Rohit has struck 48 of them in T20 World Cups so far, second only to the legendary Chris Gayle, who has 63. After his eight sixes in the match against Australia he surpassed David Warner (40) and Jos Butler (43). This will keep changing, but the numbers leave no one in doubt why the Indian skipper is such a dangerous player. He has 203 maximums in this format, a record, and more than 600 across formats.

Sixes mean something in cricket, and it’s not about the numbers they add to the score. It’s the sheer thrill of the ball soaring high and travelling long. A hit from the batsman just touching the rope is only a fraction as exciting as the one clearing the stadium or landing deep in the stands. For the batter it’s a statement of authority and dominance, for the bowler a defeat and submission. They used to be a rarity in early days of cricket. Occasional flamboyance with the bat was appreciated but it was never integral to the game. The rapid evolution of the game, courtesy the T20 format, has made six-hitting a necessity. Better bats, shorter boundaries, flatter pitches and limitations placed on the bowlers have made things easier. But it still requires special skills to hit them with confidence and frequency.

“It’s not easy, trust me,” Rohit told Chahal TV sometime ago. “It comes from lots of practice and hard work. Nothing is easy in cricket. When you watch it on TV, it may look simple.”

He added: “You don’t need just big muscles or power to hit sixes. You need timing and you need to hit it from the middle, your head should be still, your body needs to be in the right position. When you take care of these things on a good wicket, you will be able to hit sixes.”

True, but perhaps not entirely. The risk and return calculation before hitting the ball, the supreme confidence that one can do it and the audacity to take on the best don’t come easy to everyone. It’s more in the mind.

6, 6, 4, 6, 0, 6. That should be a reminder.

(By Arrangement With Perspective Bytes)