Rohit Sharma hits form with a tremendous ton against England in Cuttack
New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI): Rohit Sharma the 'Batter' owed 'Captain' Rohit Sharma a favour for the longest time. On a sultry Sunday at the Barabati Stadium, the 37-year-old Mumbaikar knew that the batter in him had no options left but to give the skipper a breathing space.
A ton of stone might have been removed from his chest but his muted celebrations said it all. It was more of relief and less of happiness.
He did that in style with a hundred (119, 90b, 12x4, 7x6) that will always be his personal favourite in terms of pressure quotient when he would have time to reflect on his white ball career full of milestones.
A performing captain is one who commands respect in the dressing room.
Not that his stature has diminished in that change room but someone, who has played the game on his own terms wouldn't like men lurking around him with question mark running through the contours of their faces even if it is head coach Gautam Gambhir, who gave away very little while clapping for his skipper's hundred with a customary poker-face.
Having endured a wretched run since the start of the New Zealand series at home, the affable Indian skipper faced the most scathing criticism in his 17-plus years at the international level.
As much as players speak about "outside noise", an under-pressure man in a high-stakes world would be vulnerable after a point. The memes hurt, conjectures about living on borrowed time must have bruised his champions' ego big time.
The criticism was not unwarranted. He was consistently failing in Test matches and it came to a point where he had to drop himself from the playing XI of the Sydney Test match.
But only he could have changed it all.
Till the opening game in Nagpur, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for Rohit -- till February 9 happened.
Finally, the sixes were soaring into the stands and one saw the vintage Rohit, who wasn't pre-empting anything but like good old days reacting to the deliveries.
Unlike Australia Tests where he was standing outside the crease trying to counter the movement, he stood deep inside the crease and things started happening.
Just like everything goes wrong when it has to go wrong, things start falling in place when it has to.
England bowlers made a cardinal mistake during the first ODI by trying to pepper Shreyas Iyer with short-pitched deliveries.
In the second ODI on a firm, even bounce track, Saqib Mahmood, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, all decided to bowl the fuller length. However, most of the deliveries were over-pitched and Rohit had played enough cricket to hit through the line with immaculate timing.
When Mark Wood bowled, it was back of the length and Rohit could execute his strokes using the depth of the crease. He could also pick his slower bouncer and deposit it in the stands.
"There is a colloquial lingo in Indian cricket -- line se line milana or hitting through the line. He was trying to hit it hard. He just timed each ball. The mindset was clear and he banked on his experience. Unlike the 2023 World Cup, he attacked but defended when needed, but also hit enough sixes to have a high strike-rate," former national selector Devang Gandhi said.
Gandhi was, in fact, right.
Rohit knew that an intent filled 40 off 20 balls wouldn't be enough in a result oriented world where volume still gets equal if not more impetus. During the World Cup in 2023, he could afford to play that high risk game but for once, he not only needed to play for the team but also for himself.
The cut shot off Adil Rashid and the six that brought up the 32nd hundred were class acts. And then came the reverse sweep.
Rohit Sharma finally batted like Rohit Sharma and the world is now a slightly better place.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Delhi HC asks Jaideep Sengar to surrender in Unnao custodial death case
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court on Friday asked Jaideep Sengar, brother of Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Sengar, to surrender before jail authorities in connection with his conviction in the custodial death case of the survivor's father.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja was hearing a plea by the convict for further extension of interim bail upon suspension of the 10-year sentence.
It observed that the interim bail granted to Jaideep Sengar in July 2024 was last extended in April 2025 and since then, in spite of five dates, no order of any further extension or suspension of his sentence has been passed by the court.
As the senior counsel for Jaideep Sengar urged the bench to extend the period of his release on account of his health, the bench said, "You surrender and then we will see."
"Although there is no extension of interim suspension of sentence granted, we find he has still not surrendered. Before we proceed to consider his application for further extension of suspension of sentence, we require the appellant to first surrender," the bench ordered.
The senior counsel for Jaideep Sengar assured the court that he would surrender by Saturday.
The court listed the matter for hearing next week.
Jaideep Sengar, 50, sought the bail extension on the grounds that he is suffering from oral cancer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) counsel had earlier said it was not a fit case for extension of interim bail, and the prescription given by Jaideep Sengar in support of his plea was fabricated.
In his application, Jaideep Sengar said he was suffering from stage IV oral cancer, a life-threatening condition, and had developed clinical signs of recurrence.
The condition, the plea said, required continuous and specialised medical care.
The plea also informed that Jaideep Sengar has spent about four years in custody.
The high court had granted interim bail to Jaideep Sengar on July 3, 2024, for two months on medical grounds.
Kuldeep Sengar was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of his life on December 20, 2019, for raping the minor in 2017.
On March 13, 2020, Kuldeep Sengar, along with Jaideep Sengar, was sentenced to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment by the trial court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh, in the custodial death case of the rape survivor's father.
The survivor's father was arrested, allegedly at the behest of the accused, under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018, owing to police brutality.
The trial court said no leniency could be shown for killing a family's sole breadwinner.
