During the recently concluded three-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, India’s opening batsman Rohit Sharma led the home side in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli and began his captaincy stint with a 2-1 series win
Sharma’s debut match as captain didn’t pan out the way he would have liked to as the Indian batting collapsed like a pack of cards against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala. The Men in Blue were bundled out for 112 after being put into bat first by the visiting skipper Thisara Perera. Eventually, the hosts lost the ODI opener by 7 wickets.
In the second ODI in Mohali though, Rohit took the cricketing world by storm as he recorded his historic third ODI double ton to guide India to a series-levelling 141-run victory. The Mumbaikar started his innings patiently but soon after notching up his 16th ODI ton he become a different beast altogether. During his record-shattering 208* off 153 balls, the Hitman smashed 12 gigantic sixes in addition to 13 fours. Subsequently, Rohit recorded the joint fastest T20I century in just 35 balls in the second Twenty-20 in Indore.
Seeing his batting prowess in recent times, former India batsman and chief selector Sandeep Patil has stated that Rohit Sharma is currently the better limited-overs batsman than Virat Kohli.
“Virat Kohli fans might not like it but I have to say Rohit Sharma is currently the better batsman. Virat is definitely a great batsman, no doubt about it. He is India’s best Test batsman but when it comes to limited overs cricket, Rohit is ahead of him,” said Patil while speaking to ABP News.
“I’m sure Virat’ going to come back from break and score lots of runs in South Africa but when we talk about limited overs cricket this year, Rohit has been unbelievable. People may say he has played more matches against Sri Lanka but so has Virat. Whether he is playing only as a batsman or as captain Rohit has proved he is best at the moment,” he further added.
Both Kohli and Rohit have been in fine form in 2017 and are placed at number 1 and 2 spots in the list of highest run-getter in ODIs. In 26 ODIs, Virat has aggregated 1460 runs at an average of 76.84 with 6 tons and 7 fifties while Sharma has piled up 1293 runs at 71.83 with 6 tons and 5 fifties.
