Why Rohit Sharma asked fans not to cheer for him during Mumbai ODI
Rohit Sharma, who scored a match-winning 162 in the 4th ODI in Mumbai, asked the fans in the stadium not to cheer his name but India's.
Rohit Sharma blasted 162 off 137 balls as India defeated West Indies by a record margin of 224 runs in the fourth ODI of the five-match series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
Rohit scored his 21st century in ODIs and seventh score of over 150 in the limited-overs format. He hit 20 fours and four sixes in his innings and with four maximums, he now has 198 sixes to his name and is currently second in the list of most sixes hit by Indians in ODIs. Rohit overtook a fellow Mumbaikar in Sachin Tendulkar on Monday. Tendulkar has 195 sixes from 463 ODIs for India.
Every hit from the Rohit's bat was cheered at his home city, and continued well into the West Indies' chase.
While fielding near the boundary ropes, he came near the fans in the stands who immediately started chanting his name. But the man that Rohit is, he turned around to point to the place where India is written on his jersey, so as to suggest that is what should be chanted.
FEEL PROUD TO BE FAN OF RO-HITMAN SHARMA.
RESPECT @ImRo45. pic.twitter.com/gbVFrvhGiy TEAM RO-HITMAN SHARMA (@HitmanPlanet__) October 30, 2018
The vice-captain, in fact, starred in the field with three sharp catches at first slip. Rohit spoke about his slip catching at the presentation and revealed how hard he has been working on this aspect of his game.
"I've been doing some slip-catching for a while. I can hear Virat (Kohli) laugh there. Been doing that for a while now. Good to get some catches, and it is important to hold those catches as there will be catches coming at you all the time.
"Especially if you're fielding in the slips for Kuldeep, it isn't easy to read his hands. When you play him in the nets, it is easy to understand when he is going to bowl that googly and I got to be ready for it," Rohit said.
Team India skipper Virat Kohli too interacted with the crowd when the fans chanted his wife Anushka Sharma's name. Kohli gave a thumbs up to the fans in between deliveries.
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The team reached Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday afternoon and received a grand traditional welcome. Men in traditional garbs played the 'Chenda', the special drums used in ceremonies and occasions, to welcome the team.
Thank you Thiruvananthapuram for this amazing welcome. #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eCsk4jEbXp BCCI (@BCCI) October 30, 2018
India have played only one international match at the newly-built stadium in captal city of Kerala, a T20I against New Zealand last year. It became the 50th venue in the country to host an international cricket match, as India won by 6 runs to clinch the three-match series. ODI cricket returns to city after a span of 30 years and incidentally the last match also involved West Indies.
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India and West Indies will play the fifth and final ODI on November 1 at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram.