Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar spoke about the way India captain Rohit Sharma has been playing in this ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 and said that he would’ve been deadly against spin in the recent match against South Africa in Kolkata.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Rohit Sharma gave India a quick start with 40 in 26 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes to his name as the Men in Blue made 91/1 in the first 10 overs. Then Virat Kohli’s 101* and Shreyas Iyer’s 77 with some lower-order hitting from Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja propelled India to 326/5 in 50 overs.
On a dicey pitch in Eden Gardens, which spun a lot, Ravindra Jadeja bamboozled South African batters as they were bundled out for 83 runs. India won the match by 243 runs, handing South Africa their biggest loss in ODIs.
While Rohit's effort left many impressed, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar had an even more interesting take. The Rawalpindi Express felt had Rohit continued playing a bit longer and faced the spinners, he would have smoked Tabraiz Shamsi for at least 15-20 sixes.
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The former Pakistan cricketer also feels Rohit missed out on numerous centuries during the tournament, and hoped he gets one in the remaining three matches, if India make it to the finale.
“Rohit Sharma has every shot, if Tabraiz Shamsi bowled such balls to Rohit Sharma, Rohit would have hit him for at least 15 to 20 sixes. India’s score would have been 430+ if he played more overs.
I want to emphasize that he could have scored five centuries in the ongoing World Cup, and it’s a bit disappointing that he didn’t. I understand that he’s the captain, and his aggressive style of play lays the foundation for Virat Kohli and the lower-order batsmen to perform well. I genuinely hope he achieves a substantial century soon,” Shoaib said in an interaction with Zee News.
Rohit has so far amassed 442 runs from eight innings, which include one ton and two half-centuries.
