Rohit Sharma's comeback in ODI format began poorly as he was dismissed for 8 runs off just 14 balls in his 500th ODI. The opener edged a sharp delivery from Josh Hazlewood to Matt Renshaw in the second slip. Rohit only faced 14 balls an hit one boundary. He added 13 runs in 3.4 overs for the first wicket with India captain Shubman Gill.
Rohit endured a tough passage of play before his dismissal, failing to make contact with the ball on three successive deliveries. In the fourth over, Josh Hazlewood relentlessly tested him outside off. Rohit first let one go, then mistimed a heave over midwicket as the extra bounce surprised him. The next delivery straightened just enough after pitching to beat his outside edge. His resistance ended on the fourth ball, which again rose sharply and caught the edge, spelling the end of his brief stay at the crease.
This was Rohit’s first international outing since the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in March this year. He had scored a tone-setting 83-ball 76 in that game as India won by four wickets to lift the title.
Ahead of the ongoing series, Rohit was replaced by Gill as India’s ODI captain, leading to intense speculation over the former skipper’s future in the format.
Rohit Sharma misses milestone
Meanwhile, Rohit became the fifth Indian player to achieve this milestone, of 500 ODI matches following Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Rahul Dravid. He needed 54 more runs to pip former captain Sourav Ganguly (11,221 runs) to become India's third-highest ODI run-getter. Earlier, Rohit presented ODI cap to Nitish Kumar Reddy in the series opener Down Under, with Rohit presenting the cap to the young all-rounder.
