Rohit Sharma- The legend of the Hitman

If you were to analyse the journey of cricketers, past or present, you'll notice that certain years hold a profound value in defining their careers. 

For instance, take 2016 for Virat Kohli. It would be a year where the batting maestro would truly come into his own in the game's briefest format, scoring, believe it or not, 641 T20I runs from just thirteen outings with the bat. It would be a year where Kohli would hit seven of his thirty T20I fifties; that's nearly a fourth of his career. He'd average 107.

Similarly, 2004 was nothing shy of sensational for Brian Lara where Test cricket was concerned. It would be the year where the stylish left-hander, then 35, would amass 1178 runs from just 12 Tests. He'd hit 400 of those runs in a single outing. 

Babar Azam scored 1000+ of his 4261 ODI runs in 2019, a year where he'd hit a fifth of his career hundreds (16) and a third of his overall fifties (18). Moreover, his strike rate was a terrific 92.

But if you were to understand the year that truly marked the arrival of a certain Rohit Sharma as a batter who was here to stay, then it would have to be 2013.

Interestingly, this would also be the year where his team would experience massive ups and downs across formats. In Test cricket, India hosted and lost badly to a dominant South African Test side starring AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla, and Faf du Plessis. But the Indian team would bounce back by trouncing the West Indies 2-nil in a Test series it hosted.

Though the most definitive moment for the exciting side came in the Champions Trophy of 2013; the tournament famously dubbed as One-Day Cricket's mini-World Cup.

And the batter who truly unfurled his fine talent with much of the world's eyes fixated on the contest everyone was hooked to was Rohit Sharma.

Never before the 2013 Champions Trophy had any Indian opening pair registered consecutive 100 plus first-wicket stands (in back-to-back games), which is when the Rohit Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan duo rose to the occasion.

In the post- Sachin and Sourav era, the team and tens of millions of its fans craved a new opening pair that could reinstate India's position of being a dominant top order force. That changed when Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan joined hands to author a new era.

And in the opening game of the Champions Trophy itself, Sharma was on the charge, scoring a fluent 65 off 81 against the Proteas as he helped India open their campaign with a fine win. In the next game, versus the Windies, he'd score another fifty; this time a 52 off 56.

India won that game as well and the Rohit-Shikhar pair conjured a 127 and 101 run stand, in the two games, respectively.

While his contribution wasn't a milestone as such against the Lankans, his 33 off 50 in that contest was no failure either. 

How the Champions trophy impacted his batting, and in turn, his career is that prior to arriving in England, all that Rohit, the ODI batter, had managed were 1978 runs from 81 ODIs, not more.

But he chose 2013 to be the year, six years after arriving in International cricket, as the period where he'd truly come to the party.

He was a handy performer in the tri-series held in the Caribbean in July that year, with two fifties, a top score of 60 along with a string of forties that were enough for both Sri Lanka and the hosts to handle.

But the crowning moment and perhaps also the biggest highlight for Rohit Sharma's career up to that point arrived a quarter later in the ODIs where India hosted the Australians.

He'd smash, not accumulate, 491 runs from just 6 games against a Coulter-Nile, Waston, Faulkner powered Australia. In one of those ODIs, he carried his bat scoring a 141 with an in-form Kohli at the other end.

But at Bengaluru, the scene of the final ODI of the series, Rohit awoke the monster in him truly unbeknownst to the others in scoring a 209. Kohli managed a duck in that game, Raina a quickfire 28 and Yuvraj no more than 12. 

But Rohit scored 209 of his team's 383 on his own, the key highlight being the sixteen sixes he struck entertaining fans- unbound by race, colour or culture- in a hair raising exposition of free hitting.

He'd round up 2013 scoring 1196 ODI runs, on the whole, the first time that he'd clock a thousand plus runs in a calendar year.

But importantly, it was also the year that would see how handy a batsman he could be in Test cricket, having already become a force in limited-overs format. To many, perhaps it doesn't occur that Rohit had top-scored in the Test series versus the Windies that year, scoring 288 runs with batsmen like Darren Bravo, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Gayle and Pujara around.

Truly speaking, from that point on, one of Mumbai's finest contributions to Indian cricket has simply not looked back. What we see, 116 ODIs, 89 T20Is and 41 Test matches later from that hell of a 2013 is less of Rohit Sharma but the legend of the Hitman.

In such time, he's become a beast in T20 internationals, where he strikes- not collects- runs at a strike of nearly 140. In the years hence 2013, he's gone on to strike 25 of his 29 ODI centuries, truly established himself as an unavoidable Test batsman averaging 46 already, has already struck a dogged double ton in five-day cricket, and even notched up the highest-individual ODI score, courtesy his whamming 264 at the Eden Gardens against Sri Lanka in 2014.

Though make no mistake, a lot around Rohit Sharma has changed, sometimes for the good and often, for the worse.

Following the retirements of one day stalwarts in Yuvraj and Dhoni, Rohit found himself increasingly pressured by the challenge of becoming the batting mainstay in a side that, much like in the post-Sourav, Dravid and Sachin era, was looking for the next generation batting idols. 

There was no longer the comfort of being a breezy youngster who could be cushioned being in great company with a Dhoni, Yuvraj, Raina absorbing the pressure.

But he's responded to the expectations that could so easily have overwhelmed any ones else with a lesser cool head over his shoulders.

We admire Rohit for his gift of timing and the effortless flicks and glances, but a lot less is reserved to appreciate what is perhaps his finest achievement; that of being nearly as good a batsman as India's famous chase-master Virat Kohli.

Rohit, who's come way ahead than where it seemed he'd reach after observing a lukewarm start to his career, is arguably the most feared batsman today.

Yes, the likes of Russell, Maxwell, Fakhar are around and going strong. But you'd expect a Rohit Sharma to both carry the bat in an inning whilst playing destructively all along.

For as long as he remains at the crease, it's not over. And maybe it will not be, even long after he crosses what'll be the biggest milestone yet: 10,000 ODI runs.

Lest it is forgotten, he's just 717 ODI runs- as of April 30, 2020 - from that feat.

Just the way he is five months away from stoking fire into the Indian camp that'll enter the 2022 T20 World cup with one ambition and one ambition alone: that of lifting the trophy.

What'll be ideal though, will be seeing Rohit Sharma, 35 today, contribute to his team's cause whilst pounding runs from his checkered blade that can do both: pull off the most audacious pulls and execute the most silken glances and nudges.

But nothing will be better than seeing the key member of the team, one who draws packed crowds wherever he plays do it all whilst leading from the front as its captain.

Keep batting Rohit, Keep the runs coming.