New Delhi: Rohit Sharma will enter the field as one of the protagonists when India take on Australia in the second match of the ongoing ODI series at Kolkata's historic Eden Gardens. The opener's love-affair with the ground is as famous as any legendary couplings.
But there exists a looming rain threat for the love-affair to continue for another chapter. Besides, the Aussies have never lost at Eden Gardens. But again, Aussies are Rohit's favourite whipping boys.
In his last nine innings at the Eden Gardens, Rohit has scored 794 runs at an envious strike rate of 99.87, at an average of 113, across all formats. It's also the ground where, the opener scored that 173-ball 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014. It's still the the highest individual score in ODIs.
He has scored 1325 runs in 24 innings against Australia at an average of 66.25 with the help of five hundreds. Compare this to his overall record of 5765 runs in 158 innings at an average of 43.34 with 13 tons.
His record becomes ever more astonishing if it's further filtered between two periods — pre-2013 and post-2013. Since 2013, he has played 13 ODIs against the Aussies, and scored 1104 runs at an average of 110.40 with five hundreds. His all hundreds have after 2013. Before that he was scoring at an average of 21.44, for his 193 runs from 10 matches.
Even the strike rate has seen drastic spike, from 70.69 to 102.88.
In front of such numbers, now fan would go against the belief that Rohit will be at his best when India play Australia at Eden Gardens on Thursday.
Besides, he was cheaply dismissed in the first match. For the sake if his records, Rohit should make his bat the talking at his favourite hunting ground, against his favourite whipping boys.
But the question remains, is Rohit upto the task to keep his love-affair alive?
