| Player: | RG Sharma |
DateLine: 7th June 2008
Rohit Sharma is yet to cement his place in the Indian team and already has been earmarked for greatness. It so happens that he has also been termed as the replacement for the great Sachin Tendulkar, when the master decides to call it a day.
Thus it comes as no surprise that this right handed batsman who also hails from Mumbai has made rapid strides in international cricket. He exuded class at No. 3 in the Under-19 World Cup and displayed key qualities for batting in the middle order. Sharma is equally happy in the role of accumulator or aggressor, depending on the game situation. He is also a more than useful offspinner, as all batsmen of such pedigree are.
He was rewarded with a place in the Indian one-day squad for the short tour of Ireland in June 2007. But it was in the ICC World Twenty20 that he grabbed the attention with a sparkling fifty against South Africa. Even in the domestic T20 competition, he was the only player to have hit a hundred in a 20-20 game. He was part of the side that lifted that title, but his opportunities in the one-day game have been few and far between. He scored a half-century in the only match he played in a series against Pakistan in November, and was included in India's 16-man squad for the CB Series in Australia a couple months later, where he turned in two great performances, one in the final batting with Tendulkar, as India lifted the trophy.
He was picked up by Hyderabad based Deccan Chargers to play in the IPL and was the only bright spot amongst a sorry affair for the rest of the team.