Former Indian opener and commentator Sunil Gavaskar has explained the reason why he was disappointed with veteran Indian opening batter Rohit Sharma, who got out for 92 runs in the third and final ODI against the West Indies on Saturday, October 3.
Speaking on JioStar’s ‘Haier Cricket Live’, JioStar expert Gavaskar asserted that Rohit should have more ODI centuries than his age by the time he retires from the ODI format. At the moment, Rohit has 35 centuries in 291 ODIs.
“The reason I was disappointed with Rohit getting out on 92 is because he didn’t get a hundred and he might possibly quit international cricket after the end of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027. And at that particular point of time, when he decides to call it a day, I personally would like Rohit to have more ODI hundreds than his age. Had he gotten a century in the third ODI, he would have moved closer to achieving that feat with his 36th hundred,” Gavaskar said.
“For me, it’s a special thing when a player’s hundreds outnumber his age at retirement. It shows the kind of career they have had and the standard they have kept for so many years. That is why I really want Rohit to reach that mark. In my last year of international cricket, I wanted to get as many Test centuries as my age, and I got out in the 90s thrice. If I’d got those hundreds, then my centuries would have matched the age of my retirement, which was 38,” he added.
Further, Sunil Gavaskar talked about the change in Rohit Sharma’s batting template since the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, adding that he recognises that his wicket is valuable at the moment.
“A slight change has appeared in the batting template of Rohit that he himself set as the captain for the 2023 ODI World Cup, where he was going bang-bang from the first ball, irrespective of the possibility of getting out sooner. Now he recognises that his wicket is valuable. In that 2023 World Cup, he got the team off to great starts, but he’s not a batsman who will score just 30-40 runs. He’s a hundred-maker! And therefore, I’m happy to see him score big runs. Yes, I know he missed out on a well-deserved ton in this match, but he got a hundred the previous game. So, the fact that he’s recognising that his job as a batter is also to get a hundred, and if he scores big, he gets a hundred in 70-80 deliveries which is helpful for the team because that is a great scoring rate in a 50-over game and it also keeps him away from the social media critics of slow batting,” he concluded.
