The Rohit hundred that brought more relief than elation

Sometimes all it takes is one shot to get a struggling batter's innings back on track. It could be a cover drive, a cut, or even an outside edge for four. In Rohit Sharma's case on Wednesday in Bengaluru, it was his favourite pull that came to his rescue. A 74-metre hit over deep-backward square leg off Mohammad Saleem, one that would serve as a kick-starter to the carnage.

Looking at the final score, and the Super Overs mayhem that followed, it is perhaps easy to forget that India were at 22 for 4 in 4.3 overs at one point. Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson got golden ducks. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube could manage only five runs between them. The historically run-laden M Chinnaswamy Stadium surface was proving a tough nut to crack for the India batters.

Rohit saw the collapse from the other end while fighting his own battles. Playing his first T20I series since November 2022, he came into this match on the back of two ducks in as many innings. He did not hide his desperation to get off the mark, as evidenced by a hilarious exchange where he almost reprimanded umpire Virender Sharma for signalling four leg byes when he had hit the ball. It eventually took him seven balls to open his account.

The last two months have posed various challenges to Rohit. He has admitted to having struggled to move on after India's loss in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, he has lost his IPL captaincy, and questions have been raised over his T20 World Cup selection. In what is the last T20I series for India before the World Cup in June, it was imperative that Rohit, who has made his ambitions to make it to the marquee event clear, got runs. That didn't happen in the first two games, making Wednesday's outing even more crucial.

On the eve of the game, Rohit was the first one to pad up at the nets. He had a long session but struggled with his timing big time. And that seemed to be the case early on in his innings on Wednesday, too. He was pre-meditating, trying to be innovative too early, and just seemed a bit rushed. The first ball he faced from legspinner Qais Ahmad had turned big, so he went reverse twice in two balls later in the over. It is not a shot that comes naturally to Rohit, and neither attempt brought him a run.

Despite the positive intent, Rohit was on 17 off 24 balls after seven overs. That would soon change, though. While Rohit had hit three fours, it was that six off Saleem that seemed to calm the nerves. He got more assured with his footwork. The ball started meeting the middle of his bat a little more regularly and while it still took him ten more balls to breach the 100 strike rate, Rohit was set and about to take Afghanistan to the cleaners.

He made his intentions clear by walloping left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf over long-on before switch-hitting the next ball over the deep-point fence. He followed it up with a conventional sweep and another switch hit against Qais to reach his fifty off 41 balls.

Rohit went into overdrive after he reached the landmark. The length balls were swatted into oblivion, the short balls were dispatched with disdain. The subtle flicks of the wrist were back in play, and the Afghan fielders could only watch helplessly. His second fifty took just 23.

There were muted celebrations as Rohit reached his fifth T20I century - the most for any batter in the format. Rinku Singh, with whom he added an unbeaten 190 off 95 balls for the fifth wicket, celebrated it more animatedly than Rohit.

"Creating the partnership was important but we kept talking to each other about not losing that intent because you might find yourself in big games where you are 20-odd or 30-odd for 4," Rohit said at the post-match presentation. "It was a good game for us to be in where there is pressure. For us, it was important to bat deep but to not compromise on the intent."

Head coach Rahul Dravid was also effusive in Rohit's praise, particularly about the range of his hitting.

"He was brilliant today," Dravid said of Rohit while speaking to the host broadcaster. "He has just shown what a class player he can be. The kind of range that he has, it's hard to bowl at him when he's set at the back end. You can't bowl short because he's really good with the pull, [can't] bowl up and he's got a great range as well. It's really good to have him back, just his presence in the dressing room has been very helpful."

Once he reached the three-figure mark, Rohit hacked two more sixes to finish with his highest T20I score - an unbeaten 121 off 69 balls. He would then come out to bat twice in the Super Overs, scoring 13 off 4 and 11 off 3. At the end of it all, there was probably more relief than elation on Rohit's face. The relief of scoring runs in a format he has not played of late. The relief of knowing (rather hoping) that maybe now the questions surrounding his inclusion in the T20 World Cup side will finally be put to bed.