Rohit Sharma’s tremendous form and hunger for runs continue at the Cricket World Cup continued on Saturday after he scored his fifth ton of the tournament to make a number of world records yet again. The Hitman slammed 103 off 94 balls against an average Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds, in India’s final league match of the 2019 edition of the World Cup to win his fourth man of the match award.
This was his 3rd consecutive hundred after the centuries against England and Bangladesh and also the 5th in a single edition and the 6th overall in World Cups. He thus broke the record of former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara’s record of 4 centuries in one World Cup and also equalled compatriot Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 6 World Cup hundreds.
Rohit was at his pure best against the Lankans while chasing a target of 265 after they won the toss and scored 264 for 7 in 50 overs courtesy to Angelo Mathews’ 113 off 128 balls. He put up 189 runs for the first wicket with KL Rahul who also scored a hundred (111), his maiden at the Cricket World Cup. India won the game by 7 wickets with 6.3 overs to spare and took their points tally to 15.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag was greatly impressed with Rohit for his incredible form with the bat in this World Cup. The man has now scored 647 runs in the tournament and needs just 27 to beat Tendulkar’s record of scoring the greatest number of runs in a single World Cup (673 in the 2003 edition). He also has 27 ODI hundreds now, 14 behind captain Virat Kohli’s 41.
Sehwag also praised Rahul in his tweet for his century on Saturday and said Team India had deserved the win. However, the 40-year-old also asked who would be India’s opponents in the semi-final since the top two occupants were not decided till the results of the Australia-South Africa game, the final in the league stage of this World Cup, was known.
“Semi Finals kiske saath lag raha hain (who do we think will play in the semi-finals)?” he asked. India will face New Zealand in Old Trafford at Manchester on Tuesday where the forecast is predicted to be a rainy day. Hope, the rains keep its way out of the game and we get a complete game on the cards.
