Former Indian cricketer Rohan Gavaskar praised Rohit Sharma for his brilliant batting performance in the third T20I against Afghanistan. Rohan Gavaskar highlighted Rohit Sharma’s ability to adapt to different game situations in the shortest format of the game.
Rohit Sharma failed to make an impact in the first two T20Is of the recent series, registering two ducks in his comeback series. However, he smashed a record century in the third and final match of the T20I. The batsman recorded his fifth T20I century, the most by any batsman.
The 36-year-old rescued the team from a challenging situation at 22-4 and added an unbeaten 190-run stand with Rinku Singh. The right-handed batsman scored 121 runs off just 69 balls, including 11 boundaries and 8 sixes, to help the team reach a total of 212 runs.
The veteran opener also became India’s most successful captain in T20I cricket, surpassing the record of legendary captain MS Dhoni. He guided the national team to 42 wins in 54 matches as India’s T20I captain, while MS Dhoni claimed 41 wins in 76 matches.
Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh used their intelligence in cricket – Rohan Gavaskar
In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Rohan Gavaskar praised Rohit Sharma for his leadership and stated that surpassing Dhoni’s winning record says a lot about his captaincy abilities. Gavaskar also mentioned that Rinku Singh played his innings-building role well.
“This is the format where your captaincy skills are really tested. If he has a higher winning percentage than MS and Virat, that tells you how good a captain he is. What I really liked about this innings is that, it is generally said in a T20I game now: the template is to go bang bang bang from the get-go. And that is the model that is established. But both Rohit and Rinku used their cricket intelligence at 22-4 and said no. We can have races later, but let’s give ourselves some time,” Gavaskar said. cricbuzz.
A record evening in Bangalore 👏👏
Captain Rohit Sharma now has the most T20I wins as captain of #TeamIndia in men’s cricket 🙌 #INDvAFG | @ImRo45 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/0fnShdlqE1
– BCCI (@BCCI) January 17, 2024
We will turn 70 – Rohan Gavaskar
Stressing the importance of patience, Rohan Gavaskar pointed out that the loss of a couple of wickets could have resulted in a significantly lower total. Gavaskar mentioned that the batting duo adjusted their game plan according to the team’s situation.
“If we lose one or two wickets here, we will be 70 in total. We are 90 in total. So let’s give ourselves a little time, we have the ability to make up for it as the innings progress. And they did, the last five overs: 100. But this is unique. Typically, you want your teams to play a different squad. But having that cricket intelligence and the skills to adapt, adjust and change your game, to what needs to be done, is key,” Gavaskar added.
Rohit became the first batsman to bat three times in a T20I match. The batsman scored 13 and 11 runs in the two super overs respectively. However, controversy arose when he returned to bat in the second super over despite retiring on the last ball of the first.
Also Read: How did Rohit Sharma bat in the second Super Over despite being retired in the first Super Over against Afghanistan? ICC law explains the rule