Rohit Sharma oozes batting talent: malleable wrists, knack to find the gaps, and the extra half a second when he plays his shots. He first came to limelight when he exuded class at No. 3 in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006. He took that class with him when he played for India in their triumphant World Twenty20 campaign in 2007 and the CB Series in Australia in early 2008, scoring two fifties, including a vital 66 in the first final in Sydney. However that ability to look good at the crease didn't translate into long innings in his first two first-class seasons for Mumbai. He kept making strides in the big league, though. He was bought for US$750,000 by the Deccan Chargers in the IPL, and made 404 runs at 36.73 including four fifties. He was briefly a regular fixture in the Indian limited-overs side, and pressed a claim for higher things through two centuries in the 2008-09 Ranji final, a feat last achieved by Sachin Tendulkar and only four others before him. However, his lack of consistency meant he wasn't a part of India's World Cup-winning squad, and returned to national duty only when the top players were rested on the tour to the West Indies in 2011. There, he made his presence felt there with consistent scores in the ODIs and the Man-of-the-Series award. But his form continued to fluctuate in the months that followed, and he remained one of India's most promising but unfulfilled talents over the next couple of years.
ESPNcricinfo staff