During the lockdown, when superstar cricketers were restricted to their homes with the sport shut down, Rohit Sharma hit a superb shot (off the field) in response to a tweet from International Cricket Council.
Someone’s missing here ?? Not easy to work from home I guess https://t.co/sbonEva7AM
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) March 22, 2020
And now that the cricket action is back in full swing (or kind of), Rohit got the chance to reiterate just how good he is with that shot on his way to a majestic 80 off 54 balls.
Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah star as Mumbai Indians get going with big win against KKR
The Mumbai Indians skipper powered his side to an imposing 195/5 in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
After Shivam Mavi (2/32) removed opener Quinton De Kock (1) cheaply, Rohit (3 fours, 6 sixes) and Suryakumar Yadav (47 off 28; 6 fours, 1 six) conjured up 90 runs for the second wicket to pull the team out of trouble and then some.
Rohit went especially hard against Cummins, who had an outing to forget, conceding 49 runs in his three overs.
“I back myself to play that shot, I’m confident playing that shot, I love playing that shot and practice it quite a lot. Six months is a long time without cricket. Was looking to get going in the first game, I was quite keen to make it today,” the Mumbaikar said when he was adjudged the man of the match.
In the end, Rohit’s knock along with Bumrah’s crucial wickets helped MI to a 49-run win.
Watch highlights of Rohit Sharma’s innings here:
Watch Rohit Sharma’s trademark pull shots here:
Here are some reactions to Rohit Sharma’s innings:
The Rohit Sharma Pull™️#IPL2020 #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/wQY50CKmtg
— The Field (@thefield_in) September 23, 2020
Hitman mode 🔛
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) September 23, 2020
The pull shot was designed to be played by Rohit Sharma....
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 23, 2020
Rohit and his love affair with KKR!
— Amol Karhadkar (@karhacter) September 23, 2020
Rohit Sharma and short ball. Beautiful love story #ipl
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) September 23, 2020
Rohit: Mentally I'm here...#MIvsKKR pic.twitter.com/An2IQvMtLf
— Manya (@CSKian716) September 23, 2020
Anything to short to Rohit Sharma and there is only one result.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) September 23, 2020
By the end of this innings we're really gonna know if Rohit can play the short ball.
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) September 23, 2020
The elevation Rohit gets & the ease with which he's able to clear the boundary playing the pull/hook is incredible. One in 5 pull/hooks is a six. Of the players to play 200+ pulls/hooks in T20s - only Lewis (4.2), Russell (4.4) & Gayle (4.7) are more effective.#IPL2020 #KKRvMI
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) September 23, 2020
Rohit loves scoring runs against #KKR Has been brutal with anything that is short!! Coming up to 900 runs with 1 x 💯 and now 6 x 50’s #Dream11IPL
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) September 23, 2020
"It has a lot to do with the astroturf wickets I grew up playing school cricket on in Borivali. If you didn’t have a pull shot or cut shot you couldn't survive. Nobody was going to bowl up to you.” @ImRo45 on why he’s good off the backfoot in an interview in 2014 #KKRvMI #IPL2020
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) September 23, 2020
If you wanna bowl short to Rohit then just put your fielders outside the boundry
— Mani 🇵🇰 (@ManiTweets14) September 23, 2020
Rohit Sharma is the finest and most prolific exponent of pull & hook I have seen among all Indian batsmen.. and arguably the second best Asian after Arvinda de Silva! Criminal to bowl short to him #ipl2020
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) September 23, 2020
Videos courtesy: IPLT20.com