Those who have seen Vivian Richards batted, knows that he was the real OG of the game. In 1984, when hitting even a century in an ODI was a mountain to climb, Richard hit a record breaking 184 against England. Every team while bowling focused to get him out early in the inning, otherwise Viv can single handedly make their leg shake on the ground. This was the aura of the greatest white ball batsman game have ever produced.
Even today only few batters have the same aura as Vivian Richards. 40 years later, Richards still holds the record for the second and third highest individual score for West Indies in ODIs. In fact, during the fag end of his career, Richards struck another mammoth hundred – 181 against Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup. Hence, it is imperative that if someone like Richards takes notice of someone, that player ought to have done something extra special.
Rohit Sharma, often considered as the modern day great of white ball cricket, has some brilliant records, which might be unbreakable for a few decades. He holds the record for hitting 3 double centuries in ODI, not a single batsman in the world even hit 2.
But his performance in the super 8 stage of the world cup left Viv Richards in awe. He struck a brilliant 91 in 41 balls against mighty Australia, in Antigua, the home of Richards. This inning is undoubtedly considered as the most brutal assault in t20 cricket.
“I always knew that if they can beat Australia, no team will be able to stop them. You look at that game against Australia, it was as if Rohit Sharma took it personally. That is the home ground of Viv Richards, and someone told me that when he was watching the match, he was in awe. To have someone like Viv Richards in awe even for half an hour, it means your life is made. If Viv Richards is watching the match and you make him clap, there is nothing like it,” veteran sports journalist Vimal Kumar said on the ‘2 Sloggers’ podcast.