After established himself among one of the greatest in the white-ball cricket, Rohit Sharma also proved his mettle in the longest format of the game after being promoted as an opener. Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir also believes the 33-year-old is among the greatest in limited-overs in the present time and feels MS Dhoni is the man who should be given credit for Rohit’s successful cricket career.
Rohit made his debut for India in 2007, but it was only after MS Dhoni promoted him as an opener in 2013 that his career turned around. Today Rohit Sharma is the only player to have hit 3 ODI double hundreds and five World Cup centuries and that is all because he once had strong backing from Dhoni, Gambhir believes.
“Where Rohit Sharma is today, it is because of MS Dhoni,” Gambhir told Sports Tak.
“You can talk about the selection committee and team management, but if you do not have the backing from your captain than it is all useless. Everything is in the hands of the captain. How MS Dhoni had backed Rohit Sharma over a period of time, I do not think any player has been given such support.”
The 2011 World Cup-winning member also said that Rohit Sharma is the prime example of how a player’s fortunes can turn around if he is nurtured by the seniors.
“I hope the young cricketers in the current generation today, be it Shubman Gillm Sanju Samson, they also get similar kind of support. And now when Rohit is a senior, I expect him to give backing to youngsters. Rohit is a prime example of how a player can become a phenomenal cricketer, if he has good backing. One good thing about MS was that he always kept Rohit in the talks, even if was not part of the team, he was always part of the group. He never let him get sidelined.”
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“I expect Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to groom the youngsters in the same way in which MS Dhoni groomed them.”
Rohit Sharma greatest white-ball cricketer in current generation
When Rohit Sharma turned 33 a couple of days back, Gambhir had wished the Mumbai batsman, calling him the greatest white-ball cricketer in the world right now.
Gambhir once again reiterated his thoughts and said no other player has an impact like Rohit Sharma does and thus there is no one like him in the present time.
“I think he is the best white-ball cricketer in the world right now. He is not the greatest overall but at the moment he is the best. He is the only player to have hit 3 ODI double hundreds, 5 World Cup hundreds and he is also the only player, who once gets past 100-run mark, people say that he missed a double century.”
“He had hit 5 World Cup hundred in England. People cannot do that in their entire careers. 3 ODI double hundreds, players do not have 3 double hundreds in Tests. There are many who could score runs, but for me white-ball cricket is all about impact. Virat Kohli will end up getting many more runs than Rohit Sharma, and Kohli is among the greatest right now, but Rohit has an edge over Kohli because of the impact he has.”
“It is very difficult to compare both of them. Virat Kohli is unbelievable. His stats prove that. But when your reputation is such that when you get out after a hundred, people say he has missed out on double hundred, that speaks volumes about you.”
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