The game of cricket has been in the DNA of Indians for a long time now and the cricketers are treated like Gods in the country.
Every now and there, the streets of India always find a group of kids playing on the street. Cricket is not just a game in the country, it has become a religion and the followers continue to grow in explosive numbers.
The definition of the game has changed over the years for an individual from street to professional, spending time at the ground to enjoy a game of cricket and relieve stress and anxiety.
A cricket match of the Indian Cricket Team means a family reunion with a couple of drinks, and some great food from outstation delivery people.
The Indian Team has developed in such a way that seeing them lose is not what the fans have much experience in. Indian Team has grown brilliantly over the years but it is something about the Indian batting, especially when they chase, which makes it better than any team in the world.
India’s top-order comprised of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and the captain himself – Virat Kohli, has performed extensively and it has been a delight to watch the Indian batting line-up.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two long-standing pillars of the Indian batting line-up and they have ruled the world of cricket for a long time.
The captain-vice captain duo is a delight to watch for not only the Indian fans but also the cricket fans all around the world.
Their partnership on the field and off the field is a delight to watch and makes up for one of the most powerful combinations in the cricketing history.
Rohit Sharma, who opens the innings for the Indian team, has been a crucial game-changer and the consistency of the innings depends on ‘the Hitman’.
His ability to understand the mentality of the bowler and hit the ball perfectly is not easy to find in every batsman and this is what makes Sharma Ji one of the finest batsmen in the world.
Rohit Sharma was an integral part of the Under 19 World Cup team and quickly made an entry into the playing XI of the Indian team as he was selected for the 2007 T20 World Cup.
The World Cup marked the debut of the right-hander and gave him the platform to make a statement in front of the World’s best.
Sharma was a part of the young T20 team that went on to win the first-ever edition of the T20 World Cup. Sharma lugged some of the finest cricketing shots and the world was ready to witness his batting prowess.
At that time, Rohit was not an opener, but he played in the middle-order and his inconsistent form was a big worry for the team.
In 2013, Sharma was given a chance after being picked in the Champions Trophy squad led by MS Dhoni. With no opener in the playing XI alongside Shikhar Dhawan, Dhoni asked Rohit Sharma to open the innings for the team.
This turned out to be one of the most promising and ingenious decisions by the captain as the team had a new face for an opener.
Rohit Sharma performed intensively as an opener, and his partnership with Shikhar Dhawan was the winning factor for Team India in the Champions Trophy.
This gave birth to a fine hitting opener for Team India. Rohit Sharma continued playing as an opener and went on to score three double centuries in ODI format and even registered the highest score by a batsman in the format.
Rohit Sharma has been a constant driving force in the Indian batting line-up and his a long list of records and accolades to his name.
When we talk about the Indian batting line-up, we can’t miss the captain of the ship, Virat Kohli. The aggressive cricketer from Delhi was the captain of the Under 19 side that lifted the World Cup.
Even though Rohit Sharma made the Indian team debut earlier than Virat Kohli, the injuries ruled him out in the initial part of his career. Virat Kohli was a part of the team that lifted the 2011 World Cup.
Virat has been consistent with his performance throughout and is the center of attraction in World Cricket. The ultimate chase master, Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman in all the three formats of the game.
Virat Kohli has earned a lot of accolades for his performance on home grounds as well as overseas matches and ‘the Wonder Man’ has kept himself in shape to deliver a better version of himself every day.
Kohli was recently compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, and it was one of the most accurate comparisons of two sportsmen. Like Cristiano, Kohli works regularly on his form to lead like no one and his hard work is the reason, he has been on the top for so long.
Virat Kohli is exceptional when he gets a target to chase and no bowler can stop him from achieving it. Virat Kohli led the Indian Team in the 2019 World Cup, but the team failed to enter the finals.
The team hasn’t given up on the dream and after winning the Austalia series, the Virat Kohli led team looks forward to winning the New Zealand series.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two batsmen on whom the Indian batting line-up can depend without any doubt and with these two on the field, the fans can always predict the team to win.
The two have had some record-breaking stands between them and are correctly the two biggest names in the Indian team.
The Chase Masters Virat Kohli
The Indian team has evolved as one of the finest teams to chase the targets and it is not a current thing.
This transition happened under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly when he introduced new and young talents in the national team.
Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir have been brilliant chasers and their legacy was continued by the boy-wonder Virat Kohli.
When Virat Kohli showed promise as a consistent performer, he shifted up the order and with Rohit Sharma alongside him, they both won India several matches while batting second.
The statistics show that Sharma and Kohli have a partnership of 4878 runs in ODI between them. This is the second-highest run stand between a pair after Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.
The Chase master is the perfect phrase to describe the duo and their career statistics together suggest that they are more compatible with each other than their respective wives.
While batting second, Sharma and Kohli have a total of 11-century stands in 47 innings.
The Indian fans hope that this partnership continues to break previous records and create new ones to become one of the legendary partnerships in the world of cricket.
An Explosive Partnership
Apart from batting up the order and beautifully scoring brilliant runs, the duo shares the love of scoring great runs against the Aussies.
Both the players have scored 8 centuries each against the Aussies, falling one short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 9 centuries against them in ODIs.
The flamboyant duo of Kohli and Sharma complement each other’s batting style when they are on the field together and are two of the finest fielders on the ground.
Rohit Sharma is an unbelievably talented player and his timing of the ball is better than perfect. His understanding of bowler’s mindset and the ability to hit the ball is flawless and Virat Kohli mentioned the fact on Gaurav Kapoor’s talk show ‘Breakfast with Champions’.
He said, “The ball comes 1.5 seconds before the actual time on Rohit Sharma’s bat so that he can hit the ball perfectly. I’ve never seen such a technical and talented batsman.”
Virat Kohli is the leading man of the Indian Team and has never led the pressure of captaincy to have the better of his batting prowess.
With a series of knocks from the two batsmen to define their position in the team, Virat and Rohit are definitely on the list of every cricket analyst right now.
Career Statistics
The two players are quite contradictory to each other, where Rohit seems to be silent on the field and Virat is quite expressive of his feelings and mannerisms.
Kohli would like to be aggressive on the field but both the players don’t like to speak much about their greatness and the records, they let their statistics speak for themselves.
Rohit Sharma, after becoming the prime opener for Indian Team just turned the tables completely in his favor and his statistics after that have boomed on the next level.
Kohli, on the other hand, has been consistent with his performance and batted his way through all the challenges the game had to give. The batsman was not only consistent with his performance but also there are not many times that he has been dropped from the team.
Fans were scared that his performance will face a downfall after him becoming the captain, but his workaholic nature didn’t allow that and Kohli stands much stronger today than yesterday.
Virat Kohli has been an explosive batsman and in the 245 ODIs he has played to date, he has managed to score 11,792 runs at an average of 59.86.
This figure includes a total of 43 centuries and 57 half-centuries. He is the only batsman to master an average above 50 in all the three formats of the game.
In Test Cricket, Virat Kohli has scored 7202 runs in 84 matches at an average of 54.98 with the help of 27 centuries, 7 double-centuries and 22 half-centuries. In 74 T20I matches, Virat has scored 2745 runs in 79 matches at an average of 51.79 with the help of 24 half-centuries.
Rohit has been a master in the limited-overs games and white-ball cricket has records imprinted by the right-handed batsman. In 224 ODI matches, Rohit has scored 9115 runs at an average of 49.27.
His 29 centuries, 3 double-centuries and 43 half-centuries have played a vital role in gathering runs at such a great pace. In Test Cricket, Rohit has played 32 matches and has scored 2141 runs at an average of 46.54.
His Test Cricket stats are highlighted by 6 centuries, a double century and 10 half-centuries. Rohit Sharma’s India career began with T20I World Cup and he has scored 2648 runs in 106 matches with the help of 4 centuries and 19 double centuries.
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