ICC World Cup 2019 | Rohit Sharma’s technique, aggression and shot selection make him great, remarks Mushtaq Mohammad

ICC World Cup 2019 | Rohit Sharma’s technique, aggression and shot selection make him great, remarks Mushtaq Mohammad

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Mushtaq Mohammad has stated that certain traits of Rohit Sharma make him one of the world’s best, believing that a talent like him deserves more chances in red ball cricket. He also labelled him a greater player than him and his brothers before discussing Pakistan’s poor showing in the tournament.

Rohit Sharma’s five centuries in a single edition of the World Cup has made headlines all around, including him in some of the record charts. A few players can only dream of scoring a 100 on cricket’s biggest platform, let alone coming anywhere near Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the most centuries in the tournament’s history. 

Hence, when asked which of the four Mohammad brothers his game style resembles, Mushtaq Mohammad had quite a different answer than expected. Sadiq, Mushtaq, Hanif and Wazir Mohammad have more than 10,000-test runs combined and some of them were considered as one of the best Pakistani batsmen of their era.

“He’s a lot better than any of us. He is, it’s a fact,” stated Mushtaq Mohammed without any hesitation, reported TOI.

The 32-year-old right hander has more than 8,500 runs in the fifty over format and has scored at a stupendous average of 92.43 in the ongoing World Cup and is only 27 runs short of Tendulkar’s record of most runs in a single edition of the mega event, with 673 in the 2003 edition. 

“His technique, aggression and shot selection. He's good to watch,” Mohammad said answering what makes Rohit Sharma so much better than most.

The opener currently sits in second in the ICC ODI batsmen rankings, not much behind Virat Kohli and has previously held the number one spot for himself. His skipper had called him the best player in the format and by the time his career ends, Sharma may go down as one of the best batsmen in fifty overs cricket of all time.

“I don't like to compare anyone with anybody. On the day, if you play well, you're a good player. But the one who is more consistent is the best player. Kohli, Rohit and Babar are all consistent,” Mohammad said on the matter.

However, compared to his 214 appearances in ODIs, Sharma has only amassed 27 appearances in white ball Cricket for India and has had sub-par performances by his standards, though having scored 1,500-plus runs at an average of approximately 40. 

“I’m disappointed that India don't play him in Tests. I believe he's a good enough player to get into the Indian Test side. He'll come through. He's one of the players you need,” remarked Mushtaq.

Himself having played 57 tests, Mushtaq had nearly 4,000 runs for his country in tests and scored 10 centuries for the Green Army. His nation started out poorly in the World Cup and reached incredible lows, before bouncing back and winning four games on the trot to end the tournament on a high, but by then, it was too late.

“They should’ve won a couple of games in the second half, particularly the one against Australia in Taunton. If we'd won that, we’d have gone through. They started off poorly, but made it up later, but that wasn’t enough,” Mohammad concluded.

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