5 Times when Indian youngsters surprised the opposition

2. Rohit Sharma against South Africa, World T20, 2007

The 2007 World Cup was the first tournament that MS Dhoni captained India. Many teams went with veterans for the tournament but India had decided to go with a rather young team. This was a major reason why India was not considered a contender at the start of the cup.

India’s start of the tournament was not very ideal. Their initial game against Scotland was washed off and they lost a game against New Zealand. Somehow, they made it into the Super 8. Match 24 of the tournament was to be played between South Africa and India. Winning the toss, India decided to bat first. India had a nightmare of a start and till the time powerplay ended, India’s score was 34 for 3.

That’s when Rohit Sharma walked into bat. Sharma had made his debut in the previous game only against England, wherein he did not bat as Yuvraj Singh smashed the ball to all parts of the ground, but Yuvraj was not playing in this game. Sharma walked to the crease to join Robin Uthappa. He hit his first boundary in the 10th over and brought up the team’s fifty.

In the 11th over, Robin Uthappa also got out, India’s score being 61 for 4. Then the responsibility of rebuilding the innings fell on the shoulders of Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In his first 20 balls, Rohit had scored just 18 runs, 12 of which had come from boundaries. It was very unlikely of him but someone had to hold one end for India.

Once India hit that 90-run mark, Sharma started playing his strokes. MS Dhoni complimented him well from the other end. Both the batsmen took India’s total to 153, which was quite considering the fact it was the first edition of the T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma ended on 50 not-out. The Indian bowlers restricted a good-looking South Africa for 116 and Rohit Sharma was awarded the man of the match for his prolific performance.