
Cricket was able to wrestle focus on a typical working day in Mumbai’s commercial district of Bandra-Kurla Complex, where sky scrapers rise in the form of business towers. SInce the players stay in their designated rooms, I observed employees off to work quickly dodge away, ID cards swinging still from their necks at the Mumbai Cricket Association Ground. In a few minutes all the few hundred places around the stadium were taken with more people climbing on top of the nearby balconies.
Any die-hard Mumbai cricket lover wouldn’t need detectives to solve the magnetism of this scene; Rohit Sharma, the Indian cricket superstar, in Mumbai whites playing Ranji trophy. To the city’s cricket aficionados, it was a chance to see their local boy in domestic matches, which does not happen so often. But what an added misfortune the Indian skipper came to know on second day of the match against Jammu & Kashmir As always it was again another irritating knock for the Indian master blaster whose innings may have been terrific momentarily but ended up in disappointment.
A Chance for Redemption After a Poor First Innings
Mumbai’s batting had crumbled during the first innings, they were all out for 120. Day two saw bowlers responding to the action and dismissing Jammu & Kashmir for 206 in just 24 minutes. This left Mumbai with 86 to win and Sakib Jaffar’s men rose to the occasion brilliantly.
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the opening pair for Mumbai Indians and India respectively, people had high hope out of them. Mumbai’s faithful had pray that their two reliable batsmen would settle the line-up and wipe out the number chase. But as in the first innings thatlsi last only 28 ’overs’ the second half saw Rohit sinking his team deeper and deeper.
Living Dangerously Before the Fall
While Rohit was absorbing the pressure and thus, surviving deep-ends of danger, there were times he displayed sparks of sheer class. His stay of 70 minutes for 28 runs could have got off to a worst start as Auqib Nabi nearly got one through his defense. Several balls later, on 1, Rohit hit a straight drive to bowler Umar Nazir who stretched out to grab the chance but was unable to cling onto it.
For a while, it looked as if Jammu & Kashmir might regret that lost chance. The Indian cricketer again replied in the typical Rohit Sharma style, that is,-counter-attack brilliantly. In the same over, he again came down the track and attempted a pull shot to perfection and the ball went for a six towards deep backward square leg. Soon after that an edge off his bat slid through the air just over slip and gully for four then an ugly look square cut just cleared the ropes.
On a lively pitch that offered bounce and early movement Rohit carried forward his T20 like aggressiveness. The first few loose deliveries from Nabi were well-planned initially by Suresh with typical patience, before Rohit came out of his shell to hit a big shot right out of the park over long-off. Not even Yudhvir Singh, brought into bat with the formal break-up of the partnership, was spared — Rohit conjured up the shot of the evening with a memorable lofted drive off a full toss over the bowler’s head.
A Sudden Shift and a Premature End
Then again, after that great shot, Rohit seemed to lose his intent and he was suddenly overly cautious. Maybe he sensed danger, the ball was still zing for the hitter and the pitch was quite good for the bowlers. However, changing the style at such a particular time and occasion looked like it demoralized them.
So, in the 14th over as well, with Yudhvir Singh continuing to bowl a line, Rohit tried to get out of the shackles again. This time the ball came on the thick of the middle and it rose up towards the mid-wicket region off the inside half of his bat. There was Abid Mushtaq standing in the slips who made a stunning one handed take to dismiss Rohit ruing his decision to come down the track.
When Mumbai captain left the field he merely growled which could be heard in the entire ground. With head down he retraced his steps, angry at himself for not being able to capitalize good beginning to get a big total.
Yashasvi Jaiswal Follows Suit
In the case Mumbai had any fight back left, it came to an end once Rohit got out. Jaiswal who took 82 minutes 26 to complete his cameo perished to a dodgy cut shot that resulted in a straight catch to gully. J&K was 54/0 and then became 57/3, and pretty much like that Mumbai had wiped out the lead but were down to five players.
Brief Thrills, Lingering Frustration
This very innings of Rohit Sharma in this Ranji Trophy match summed up the agony that Mumbai fans had to bear this season? While those brief rushes provided an idea of the talent the world had in him, they failed to provide staying power necessary to bail his team out of the woods.
For fans living at the Bandra-Kurla Complex that arguably is a nook-and-corner in Mumbai, where people sacrificed their working hours to watch their hero in action – the crushing feeling they got was well captured. The glimpses of sheer class — the pull shots, the lofted drives — were not enough to mask the general belief that Rohit was dismissed when he should have been batting on.