Kindred spirits

This was last year

Rohit Sharma, the most successful batsman for Deccan Chargers in the ongoing IPL, has found an admirer in South African team-mate Herschelle Gibbs, who believes the young batsman has a "prosperous" career ahead.

This was yesterday

That brought together Rohit and Gibbs, who knuckled down to work a few singles and steady the innings. Gibbs then started playing some inventive shots, a bent-knee sweep off Ganguly for four followed by a deft dab towards third man. Any pressure that Kolkata had built up vanished, and neither batsmen was afraid of lofting the ball after that.

Rohit joined in the fun once Ajit Agarkar was introduced, a huge six over long-off and a couple of boundaries helping take 17 runs off his first over. Some more merry hitting from the pair finished off the game with nearly seven overs to spare.