They said he didn’t have the temperament to shine on the big stage.

They said he was good enough just to play in the IPL. 

They said he was callous. They said he didn’t deserve a longer rope. Why, they even said he was all promise, no performance. Over the past couple of weeks, Rohit Sharma has silenced his critics with a few shut-your-mouth knocks.

On Saturday, he did what only two other men had in the history of ODI cricket. Actually, his monumental 209 off 158 balls wasn’t murderous. Yes, it was a cracking knock alright (Happy Diwali!), but it had all the qualities of a typical Rohit innings. Elegant drives, wristy flicks and, of course, clean hits.

Hits! Well, there were plenty of them. Sixteen sixes (a world record) and 12 fours came off his broad bat as India powered their way to an epic 383/6. But if you thought the Aussies would be blown away, you were wrong. 

Yes, the visitors lost by some distance — 57 runs to be precise — to hand India the rain-affected seven-match series 3-2, but there were many thousand tense faces at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium when James Faulkner made a mockery of the Indian attack under lights.

Rohit, who emulated Sachin Tendulkar (200* vs South Africa at Gwalior in 2010) and Virender Sehwag (219 vs the West Indies at Indore in 2011) by scoring an ODI double hundred, paced his innings beautifully. His first 50 took him 71 balls and he scored 24 ones, three fours and just one six. He was clearly playing second fiddle to Shikhar Dhawan (60, 57 balls, 9x4) who just took off from where he left in Nagpur. Thereon, Rohit batted like a man possessed. His second 50 took 43 balls, and the third a mere 26. His journey from 151 to 203 (he got there with his 15th six) seemed like a blur — 16 deliveries.

Rohit was guilty of running Virat Kohli out for nought and the joke doing the rounds was that he was too scared to face his mate in the dressing room. So he just chose to bat on and on and on.

Rohit came out of his slumber to smash a six during his 112-run stand with Dhawan, but it wasn’t until later that he really sprang to life. That he was in the mood for hitting sixes became apparent 

Doherty in four overs, this after a 28-minute rain delay.

The powerplay overs (36-40) produced only 22. The last 10 overs produced a scarcely believable 151, the last five alone fetching 101 to leave Australia shell-shocked and the large crowd with sore throats and soaring hearts. Dhoni struck two sixes and seven fours in a ‘helicoptered’ 38-ball 62, but he was clearly second-best on the day.