A blistering century from Rohit Sharma was one of the standout points for the Indians fans during the opening ODI against West Indies in Guwahati on Sunday. But the limited-overs vice-captain is knocking on the doors of breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of hitting 195 sixes in ODIs. Having broken former skipper Sourav Ganguly’s record of 190 sixes in the opening game, Rohit is now one hit away from equaling Tendulkar’s record.

India skipper Virat Kohli and deputy Rohit sent the West Indies bowlers on a leather hunt on Sunday. While Kohli was the aggressor, Rohit preferred to play second fiddle as India chased down the target of 323 with 47 balls to spare. The duo put on 246 for the second wicket and teammate Yuzvendra Chahal feels that the way Kohli and Rohit bat at times, it is almost like they are playing PS4.

“We enjoy watching them (Rohit and Kohli) bat, they are two legends of the game, (smiles) at times we feel they are playing PS4,” he said.

Kohli marched to his 36th career ODI century, his 22nd in chase, to help India script a resounding eight-wicket victory over West Indies in the first of five ODIs. Kohli had walked into bat after India had lost an early wicket, of Shikhar Dhawan, to West Indies’ new pace find Oshane Thomas. The right-arm pacer was bowling in the high-140s and his pace saw Dhawan chopping the ball on to his stumps. India were 10 for one. Kohli took on the youngster, as India extracted 36 runs off his first four overs.

On a belter of a wicket, with Rohit playing perfect foil, Kohli raced to his half-century off 35 balls to take the wind out of Windies’ sails. By the time he was on 78, Rohit had reached 35 and India were well on course.

Kohli hit the ground running with a flurry of boundaries, Rohit was sedate, seeing off the new ball, and reached his 50. A switch was flicked, the accelerator pressed as the opener took the Windies bowling attack by the scruff of the neck and tossed them by the wayside.

The languid drives, the nonchalant pulls and the authoritative slogs, all made an appearance as Rohit galloped away to his 20th century. He became only the fourth Indian to reach this feat. However, he was not done yet and when Kohli was dismissed, Rohit made sure he stayed to close out the chase.

He stayed out and smacked the winning six to take India past the target and in the process, notched up his sixth score of more than 150 in ODIs. He went past Sachin Tendulkar and David Warner, who have five such scores.

First Published: Oct 23, 2018 11:32 IST