Rohit Sharma scored one century and one fifty in the three-ODI series against West Indies.
Rohit Sharma, who had made 101 runs in India’s record chase of 405 runs in the second ODI, made a sublime 92 runs off 85 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes, as he rebuilt the Indian innings after losing Shubman Gill (1) and Virat Kohli (0) early.
He also added 137 runs for the third wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) to bring stability to the Indian innings. Unfortunately, Rohit Sharma was dismissed 8 short of his 36th ODI century by Keemo Paul.
For Gavaskar, it would be crucial for Rohit to end his career with more centuries in ODIs than his age at the end of it, which will likely be the case following next year’s ODI World Cup. At present, Rohit Sharma, who is 39 years old, has 35 ODI centuries to his name.
“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 in 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.
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 maintained 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," Gavaskar said on JioStar's 'Haier Cricket Live'.
Gavaskar also talked about the change in Rohit Sharma’s batting ways when compared to his approach in the 2023 World Cup. There were no qualms on Gavaskar’s part in saying that the earlier Rohit was much more dangerous than today, having gone berserk right from the first ball, whereas today’s Rohit is much more concerned about his wicket.
"A slight change has appeared in the batting template that Rohit 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 early. Now he recognizes 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 in the previous game. So, the fact that he's recognizing 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," Gavaskar asserted.
Rohit Sharma will next be in action when India takes on New Zealand in a series of five ODIs later this year.