CUTTACK: India on Monday celebrated captain Rohit Sharma’s return to form after a match-winning ODI century against England on the eve of the Champions Trophy.

Sharma slammed his 32nd one-day ton to lead India to a series-clinching victory in the second match against the visitors on Sunday following months of speculation over his future.

“The Hitman Returns,” the Times of India newspaper triumphantly declared.

The 37-year-old opener struggled in the 3-1 Test loss in Australia last month and was not involved in the final match because of poor form.

He got out for two in the ODI opener but regained his mojo in Cuttack to hit 119 off 90 balls in a knock of 12 fours and seven sixes.

“The good thing is that before an important tournament like the Champions Trophy, scoring a hundred is a huge boost,” spinner Ravindra Jadeja said after the four-wicket win over England. “It’s great for the team, and obviously, he himself knows his game well.”

India will begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh on Feb 20 before a blockbuster clash against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai three days later.

The captain displayed an array of strokes with flicks, drives and his trademark pull to steer India’s chase of 305, won with 33 balls to spare.

Sharma scored just 31 runs in three Tests against Australia and averaged 10.37 across formats in his previous 16 innings before the current series.

He quit T20 Internationals after leading India to World Cup glory last year but the lean patch raised doubts over his future in ODIs and Tests.

“Every time I walk on the pitch I want to try and do well,” Sharma said in a video posted on the Indian cricket board’s website.

“Sometimes it happens, sometimes it may not happen.” He added: “That mindset of how to get runs, how to score runs sounds very simple, but it is quite difficult.”

Sharma is 13 short of 11,000 ODI runs ahead of Wednesday’s final match against England in Ahmedabad.

Assessing before exploding has been Rohit’s template in ODIs, an approach that has fetched him three 200-plus scores, the most by a batsman, including a 264 that remains the highest individual score in this format.

In Cuttack on Sunday, it was a typical Sharma knock where he shunned the cross-batted shots early in his knock before hitting the English bowlers all over the park at Barabati Stadium.

“When you play on black soil, (the ball) tends to skid on a bit, so it’s important that you show the full face of the bat when you’re batting initially,” the right-hander said.

“Once I got into my innings, I understood what they were trying to do — bowling into our body and trying to not give any room, keeping it on the stumps.

“That’s where I prepared my plan as well, what I wanted to do with those kind of deliveries, trying to access the gaps which were there. It’s about understanding what you want to do as a batter.”

Star batsman Virat Kohli has also been under fire for underperforming and after missing the series opener due to a sore right knee, got out for five on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2025