Even as Virat Kohli dazzled with three sixes that rolled back the years, Rohit Sharma smashed three maximums, the last of which anointed him as the batsman with most ODI sixes. He first went past Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi with his second six, before blasting the next, six no 352. Powered by Kohli’s statement-making 135, Rohit’s 57 and some end-overs scrambling, albeit a touch slow, India set a target of 350 to South Africa.
It’s Rohit’s greatest achievement that he now perched on top with his six-game that oozes grace, timing, style, and a remarkable sense of effortlessness.
It’s a good time as any to pause and admire his six-hitting prowess. A look at the list of the other four in the top five roster is revealing. Afridi, Chris Gayle (331), Sanath Jayasuriya (270), and MS Dhoni (229).
There would be absolutely no surprise with any of the names there. If they didn’t loot sixes, then who would? When they bludgeoned the sixes, an atavistic thrill would shoot up the spine. They were the modern players, but with an old-age hitting feel to them.
It’s easy to imagine Afridi, the adventurous Pathan, holding the record for sixes. He would throw his entire being into the big hits — zany uninhibited fun. Gayle was the hulk who seemed born to pulp that small round thing. Jayasuriya was the marauder who would fist the ball into orbit with an admirable combo of power and timing. Dhoni was the muscled hacker, the batsman with the full unadulterated bat-swing in that list.
Rohit doesn’t have the beefed body tone of a hitter. He doesn’t seemingly flex his biceps when hitting. He is the star of the modern age of six-hitting that remarkably lacks that brutality and is nonviolently-violent.
Can one look all serene when the mind is buzzing with aggressive thought, adrenaline is pumping through the body, and manage to look ever so cool? Rohit does. It’s a sight to see him stand still in the crease, awaiting the bowlers, especially the pacers. There is an easy vibe to it, a nonchalance that belies the fact that he is standing in a cauldron of screaming people with a fast bowler rushing towards him. There have been a few like him, Mark Waugh comes to mind as far as the body language while in-stance, awaiting a bowler. It would seem as if the junior Waugh was standing on a beach front, all casual and cool; no unnecessary tensed muscle twitch, a bewitching elegance as if he were leaning on a bar counter, waiting for his drink. Rohit’s mannerisms are tending towards that. But there is one difference – the six-hitting prowess.
The three sixes on a packed Ranchi stadium wasn’t quite in that stunningly graceful level, but each meant something good.
The first six was a down-on-his-knee slog-swept six off the spinner Prenalan Subrayen, who bowled a lot of tripe. And that shot wasn’t quite timed well, and it wasn’t surprising either as a slog-swept six is one stroke that Rohit doesn’t quite always get it as cleanly as the rest. But that took him on par with Afridi. The next six was the same shot against the same bowler, but this one whistled into the crowd. It was one of his better slog-swept sixes where the body shape, the timing, the bat-swing everything was in sync.
The six that took him to top of the list came against Marco Jansen, and it was a pull. It’s his calling card, his most expansive shot. So the surprise wasn’t that he pulled a six, but of late, especially before he lost weight and became fit, the shot wasn’t coming as easy to him as it did before. It’s to do with the way he hits it. Unlike Ricky Ponting, whose pull was a dare as he would lunge towards the ball before yanking back to gloriously send it up and over, Rohit’s is softer, silkier. He transfers his weight from the front foot to the back with a tiny hop almost, settles into a position, and almost cradles the ball up and over, using the pace. Especially those pulls that go behind square-leg. For a short while, recently, the hop wasn’t quite working as smoothly as he would like, and hence the timing and resultant power at times went awry. In that regard, the six against Jansen was a good sign that his fitness regime is working.
Ranchi crowd didn’t get to see the most delightful six-stroke of Rohit – that elegant lofted straight six off pacers. The way his hands would go through the line of the ball, in an elegant smooth arc would feel like a movement of a father throwing up his little daughter in the air to catch. Perhaps, that would come in Raipur.