Rohit Sharma on Sunday surpassed West Indies batter Chris Gayle to rise up to second in the highest six-hitters in ODIs in the second match vs England at Cuttack. Rohit, who started the match tied with Gayle with 331 maximums, surpassed the West Indies icon when he smashed a six over midwicket with his trademark flick shot to Gus Atkinson in the 2nd over.
He would follow that six with two more maximums and go up to 334 but he is still behind Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi who has 371. The Indian skipper looked to have regained some of his form after a lean period as he smashed 29 off 18 deliveries before the match suffered a brief stoppage due to a floodlight issue.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja continued his stranglehold over English batters with brilliant figures of 3 for 35 as India bowled out the visitors for a sub-par score of 304.
The flick first and then the loft! 🤩
Captain Rohit Sharma gets going in Cuttack in style! 💥
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On a good batting surface, Jadeja’s crucial breakthroughs came against the run of play as he dismissed an aggressive Ben Duckett (65 off 56 balls) and a well-set Joe Root (69 off 72 balls), preventing England from building on their strong start.
Electing to bat, England laid a solid foundation with contributions from Duckett, Root, and skipper Jos Buttler (34 off 35 balls).
At 200/3 in 35 overs, England seemed on course for a 330-plus total, but Jadeja’s disciplined bowling stifled their momentum, denying them the extra 15-20 runs.
England would have struggled to reach 300 if not for Liam Livingstone’s brisk 41 off 32 balls (2×4, 2×6) and Adil Rashid’s explosive five-ball 14, which included three consecutive boundaries off Mohammed Shami.
However, three run-outs in the final couple of overs saw them bowled out with a delivery to spare.
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This is in fact the lowest total at Barabati Stadium since 2011 as 350-plus has been the average first innings score since then.
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