Thank you Hitman, for all the sweet memories of explosive knocks in T20Is

In the modern era of cricket, especially in India where the sport is being defined as religion, making your debut in the international circuit at the grandest stage of all is possibly considered a folly. But for the ones who don’t know this, Rohit Sharma made his T20I debut in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

The very first game that he batted in, he started off with a bang, blasting an all-important half-century for India to be just afloat against the mighty and undefeated South Africa at Durban before their bowlers came out firing on all cylinders.

A game later, he was sprinkling his stardust against the formidable bowling unit of Pakistan, a knock that provided enough fuel for India to propel to the finishing line and eventually lift their maiden T20 World Cup. Following that however, things took a downward turn and hope kind of eluded Hitman.

After a major change in 2013, when Rohit Sharma was prompted to open the innings, that is where it all changed for the Men in Blue and for the Hitman himself. He got hailed as one of the finest of the lot, parking the cherries out of the fences at volition.

The magic kept on amplifying itself and eventually shattered the ceiling in Dharamsala, when Rohit Sharma picked on South Africa again and blasted his first T20I century. A couple of years later in Indore, Sri Lanka found themselves at the receiving end of a full-blown blast of the Hitman as he whacked another T20I century and this time even bigger.

He came mighty close to racking up another ton in Malahide where he fell for 97 against Ireland. But the man meant business always and he compensated for missing out one ton by scoring two centuries in quick succession, one against England in Bristol and the other one against West Indies in Lucknow.

His bat never kept silent. Either he fell because his ambitions preceded him and he didn’t believe in taking shelter in the shield of defence. He was always hunting for the maximums and he wouldn’t care even if he fell in pursuit of the bigger rewards.

He finished his T20I career with 4231 runs at a strike rate of 140.89. He racked up five centuries and 32 half-centuries. He finished as the second highest run scorer in the history of T20 World Cup with 1220 runs while garnering the laurel of being the leading run scorer in the history of T20Is. Thank you Hitman for all the memories. We will wait for another dimension, another life and another era where you will once again take the yard in the Indian colours in cricket’s shortest format.