The legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar showered praise on Indian skipper Rohit Sharma after the veteran batsman’s exceptional century that led India to victory over Afghanistan in the 2023 Cricket World Cup on Wednesday. While Rohit had a modest performance against Australia in the tournament’s opening match, he showed an outstanding form against Afghanistan by notching up a remarkable 131 runs from just 84 deliveries.
Gavaskar highlighted that Rohit has missed out on several centuries in recent times due to his aggressive style of batting, which is valuable for the team. Nonetheless, with the crucial match against Pakistan around the corner, the century against Pakistan will definitely boost the confidence of Rohit Sharma.
“I’m very happy that he got a hundred because he missed out on a lot of hundreds. With him, he is a risk taker. And therefore sometimes, what happens is, in the 60s, 70s – look at the number of times – where he got the team off to a flying start with half-centuries. But he wants to carry on in the same way because it benefits the team. For example, today, you get that (run rate of) 8 runs per over,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“The strike rate, it helps your net run rate. Who knows what’s gonna happen? After another 5-6 matches. You might need those decimal points to qualify. So clearly, he might have missed out on a few hundred, but he entertained all of us. And today was another special occasion. Some of the sixes that he hit, are just unbelievable,” the legendary batter continued.
Gavaskar praised Rohit Sharma by making a comparison with the former Indian opener Virender Sehwag who had a similar style of batting.
“Every century of his is a delight to watch. Because there is that ease with which he seems to be caressing the ball when he is hitting the ball along the ground. Very few batters have the ability to pull off the front foot that he does. The same thing with Virender Sehwag, Viru was also similar. Opening batter, goes bang-bang and scores 60s-70s, 80s,” he explained.
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“And look, we as cricket fans, lovers of batting, want them to carry on. So when they don’t. Then we sometimes get very upset. Like what kind of shot you have played. But they still score 60,70,80s. But we want them to go on and score a hundred. Happy that after January, he has got a hundred. Because this is what India needs, India needs a start from their skipper. The kind of flying start that is given, because that propels a team to a big score,” Gavaskar concluded.
