Second ODI: Rohit Sharma’s redemption song at Cuttack's Barabati

Rohit Sharma is not going to forget Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium and the night of 9 February in a hurry. For someone who has had such a storied career in white-ball cricket spanning over 18 years, there have been numerous occasions of personal glory — not to speak of two T20 World Cup and an ICC Champions Trophy crown — but this Sunday was different.

The 32nd ODI century against England, an audacious one with the ‘Hitman’ stamp written all over it, came off 76 balls as he pummelled Adil Rashid over long on for a six. During the innings studded with seven sixes and 12 fours, Rohit surpassed Chris Gayle in the list of batters with most sixes in ODI cricket and is now second on the overall list with 338, topped by Pakistan's Shahid Afridi with 351 maximums.

However, the significance of the effort will be a deeply personal one for the 37-year-old India captain, with the epitaph of his international career being written for the last six months. Not without reason, thanks to his miserable form — an aggregate of 31 from six Test innings in Australia seeming almost like a mockery of a senior statesman of the game.

In the 50-over format which has been his true calling, Rohit's last century came against Afghanistan in the 2023 World Cup, while the last 50 was an innings of 64 against Sri Lanka in an away series in August 2024.

‘’No, I am not going anywhere. It’s just that I have opted out of this Test as I haven’t been getting runs,’’ Rohit said on the sidelines of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series at Sydney, though the grapevines offered a different story. It was the first occasion in Indian cricket when a captain had withdrawn himself owing to form, as rumours swirled that he could be calling time on red-ball cricket at the end of the series.

At Cuttack, the batting conditions may have been tailormade for Rohit when India started a steep chase of 305, but he certainly had to battle his inner demons and come out all guns blazing. Shaking off the fear of failure, he appeared in an avatar much like the one during India’s campaign in the 2023 World Cup — as a blazing start is the proven formula to conquer a 300-plus target.

His 32nd ODI century puts him behind just two compatriots — Virat Kohli (50) and Sachin Tendulkar (49) in the all-time centurions' list in the 50-over game. More importantly for someone who has been there and done that, it puts him back in the right frame of mind to lead the Men in Blue for the ICC Champions Trophy, where India play their first game against Bangladesh in Dubai in 10 days’ time.