Rohit hits 155 as Mumbai down Sikkim by 8 wkts

Jaipur

Rohit Sharma made a mockery of an inexperienced Sikkim bowing attack with a 94-ball-155 on his return to List A cricket, as Mumbai cruised to an eight-wicket victory in their opening Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Wednesday.

The ‘HitMan’ carnage included 18 fours and nine sixes as Mumbai chased down a target of 237 in just 30.3 overs. Truth be told, there was not much to write home about Sikkim’s bowling unit with Palzor Tamang, Kranthi Kumar, Gurinder Singh and Ankur Malik looking overawed or clueless from the moment Rohit took guard.

It started with a trademark pull-shot over mid-wicket off Kranthi for a boundary, followed by a swivel pull shot off his hips. The pacers lacked sting and twice, seamer Palzor’s 125 kmph deliveries were swept fine behind the square for sixes.

Rohit played a few late cuts against the spinners using the pace of their deliveries. He was dropped twice but Rohit remained undeterred and always found a way to bisect the gaps at time and over of his choice.

Rohit also hit some delectable straight shots leaving the Sikkim bowlers in complete awe.

Brief Scores:

Sikkim 236/7 in 50 overs (Ashish Thapa 79, Shardul Thakur 2/19). Mumbai 237/2 in 30.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 155). Mumbai won by 8 wickets.

Punjab 347/6 in 50 overs (Naman Dhir 97, Anmolpreet Singh 85, Prabhsimran Singh 60). Maharashtra 296/8 in 50 overs (Prithvi Shaw 47, Ramakrishna Ghosh 73, SS Bajwa 2/36). Punjab won by 51 runs.

Chattisgarh 233 in 48.5 (Amandeep Khare 76, Deepraj Gaonkar 4/35). Goa 234/4 in 44.1 overs (Snehal Kauthankar 107 no, Lalit Yadav 43). Goa won by 6 wickets.

Himachal Pradesh 259 in 47.3 overs (Innesh Mahajan 60, DS Bora 4/44). Uttarakhand 164 in 40.3 overs (Aanjaneya Suryavanshi 55, J Sucheeth 51, Akash Vashist 3/30). Himachal Pradesh won by 95 runs.