Rohit back in form, hits solid 73 vs Australia

• Rohit Sharma's 59th ODI half-century rescues India after early wickets.
• Rohit surpasses Ganguly, now India's second-highest ODI opener run-scorer.
• Rohit reaches 150 sixes in SENA, departs for 73 off Starc's delivery.

New Delhi: After losing skipper Shubman Gill and star batter Virat Kohli on a score of 17, Rohit Sharma stood tall in Adelaide to rescue India from a precarious

position in the second ODI against Australia. In a game which will potentially decide the fate of the series, Rohit played a sensible knock smashing his 59th ODI half-century after India were put into bat first.

Rohit and Gill opened the innings for India and it seemed like everything was turning out to be smooth in the Men in Blue’s favourite turf but the loss of Gill for 9 came as a big blow. Former skipper Kohli, who holds an incredible ODI record in Adelaide, joined Rohit on the crease but his stay was short as he lasted for just 4 balls scoring nothing.

It was Rohit, who held the fort after the quick fall of wickets alongside Shreyas Iyer who came to the crease after Kohli’s wicket. By virtue of the special innings, Rohit surpasses former skipper Sourav Ganguly (9146) to become India’s second highest run-scorer among ODI openers and the fifth highest overall. Rohit, who is known for hitting big hits, achieved the record of becoming the first Asian batter to smash 150 sixes in SENA countries.

He is the only second visiting batter after Chris Gayle to reach the landmark. This was also the slowest ODI half-century for Rohit since 2015. Rohit is still the only ODI opener to hold a 50+ average among all 54 openers who have at least got 3000 runs in history.

Rohit departs for 73

While all the fans and Rohit himself hoped to covert the half-century into a big knock but unfortunately his innings was cut short on a delivery bowled by Mitchell Starc. Rohit ended up scoring 73 runs off 97 balls which included seven fours and two sixes. While the Hitman failed to score a hundred but his innings was pivotal for the Men in Blue.