Indian cricket team ended their 2019 with a win over West Indies by 4 wickets in the third and final ODI of the series at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday, 22 December.
Kohli and his men had a great year apart from a World Cup semi-final loss in England in June. From winning a Test series for the first time on Australian soil to registering four back-to-back victories by an innings in Test cricket, the Indian team saw many highs in 2019.
But the one player who has had a dream year is opener Rohit Sharma. Though he had to miss a historic Test series win in Australia in January this year as he had to come home for his daughter’s birth, Rohit made sure that he makes up for it in the series to come.
The opener made 2,442 runs from 47 international innings at an average of 53.08 in 2019.
Leading Run Scorer in ODIs
In the ODIs that he played in 2019, Rohit aggregated 1,490 runs in 27 innings at an average of 57.3. He even left behind the run machine, Virat Kohli, who occupied the number two spot with 1,377 runs.
Though India didn’t win the World Cup this year, Rohit had a dream run in the tournament. He was in the form of his life. The right-hand batsman scored five centuries – the most by any player in a single World Cup.
The India opener was the highest scorer at the ICC World Cup in England with 648 runs from nine innings at an impressive average of 81.
Overall, Rohit scored seven hundreds in 2019, most by any player this year. Only Sachin Tendulkar (nine hundreds in 1998) has scored more hundreds in one calendar year.
Rohit is one of the best openers in limited over cricket, if not the best. He has time and again proved his worth, and this year was no different.
Rohit Sharma – The New Test Opener
One of the greats in ODI and T20’s, Rohit Sharma never had something to show for himself in the longest format of the game.
But 2019 saw him making his debut as a Test opener. And once again it was a debut to remember.
Rohit scored 529 runs in his debut series as opener against South Africa in 4 innings at a stunning average of 132.25.
Chief selector MSK Prasad showed faith in Rohit as a Test opener and said that they want to give him a chance to do what he has been doing in white-ball cricket.
“We feel he has the ability to bat up the order, we have seen that in white-ball cricket, and if he can do that in red-ball cricket, then nothing like it. We have a lot of practice matches coming up, which will be a boost to this side.”MSK Prasad, Chief Selector
Captain Virat Kohli also showed faith in Rohit’s ability as an opener.
“...if he does that (succeeds in the opening role), then our batting order at the top becomes more lethal. It is difficult to have a player like that to not start every time,” said Kohli.
"...if he comes into his own then the whole batting order looks a completely different batting order than anywhere in the world," added the skipper.
Opening role in red-ball cricket has suited the Mumbai player and he will only look to improve his stats and cover up for everything he has missed so far.
T20 Internationals
Rohit Sharma is one of the most dangerous batsmen in T20 cricket in the world and his record speaks for itself.
He scored 396 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 138.46 in 2019.
The vice-captain also became the first Indian man and second in world cricket to complete 100 T20 Internationals on 7 November this year when he stepped on the field in a match against Bangladesh.
“When you come into the team as a youngster, you are trying to learn things which happened quite smoothly at start. Then with few ups and few downs, I have become a stronger player and understood my game really well,” Rohit said after his milestone.
Rohit shares the top spot for leading run scorer in T20I with his captain Virat Kohli as both have scored 2,633 runs in the shortest format of the game.
4 IPL Trophies for the Mumbai Indians Skipper
Apart from Rohit Sharma the player, Rohit Sharma the captain also had a wonderful year. He won his fourth IPL title with Mumbai Indians after defeating Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling final.
Personally it was the fifth title for Rohit Sharma, as he had won one IPL season with Deccan Chargers as well.
Rohit now holds the record of maximum IPL titles as captain followed by MS Dhoni (three titles).
Rohit and Co have qualified for the playoffs in eight seasons out of twelve.
This is what the batsman himself had to say about his 2019:
“Extremely grateful for the year I’ve had. A World Cup victory would have been nice, but as a team, throughout the year, whether red ball or white ball cricket, we came together really well. Personally I’ve enjoyed batting, but there’s no way I’m stopping. There’s an exciting year coming up.”Rohit Sharma
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)