India will face South Africa in the third T20I game of the three-match series at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. Having read India and Eden Gardens, some of you must be having that wild grin on your face now with the reason being – Hitman Rohit Sharma!
Having lost the first two T20 matches, India have already lost the ongoing series against South Africa. So this will be dead rubber. But we can expect some entertaining cricket from both these sides.
And talking about entertainment at the Eden Gardens, the King of Swag will be featuring in this game. Yes, Rohit Sharma. When he won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title with the Mumbai Indians, he had said that he would love to take this ground in his pocket. And why will not he do that? Every time he has played at the Eden Gardens, he has impressed every single time.
Rohit will return to the Eden Gardens, with nothing to lose, consdering the series is already gone.
India are currently on the back-foot after losing two consecutive T20 games against the Proteas, but the visitors must not forget, this is the Eden Gardens. There will be 70,000 fans right behind 11 Indian men on the field and that adds to the pressure on the visiting team. The perfect 12th man! And on top of that Rohit Sharma returns to his happy hunting ground, where he has had so many run-feasts.
That incredible innings of 264 runs against Sri Lanka shattered many ODI records.
Rohit also made his Test debut for India against Australia at the same venue and you guessed it correctly, he did score a century then as well. Rohit also treated the Eden Gardens fans with two wonderful innings in IPL 2015 (98 and 109), while the elegant right-hander also has scored a double hundred in a Ranji Trophy match against Bengal in his early days.
What does these statistics add up to? It only means that this man can do no wrong when he comes out to bat with his willow at the Eden Gardens. He turns into some sort of an run-scoring alchemist here at this venue.
Australia have faced his wrath, Sri Lanka have danced to his willow's tune, Kolkata Knight Riders too have faced up to a couple of storms, now this time its South Africa. Will Rohit's love affair with Eden Gardens continue or will it be South Africa who will spoil his party?
We will just have to wait and watch.