Sandeep Patil terms Rohit Sharma better batsman than Virat Kohli

In the absence of Kohli, Rohit took the responsibility of skipper for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka and under his captaincy, Team India faced a humiliating loss in the first ODI in Dharamsala but in the Mohali game, he played a blistering knock of unbeaten 208 which helped the team register a win by 141 runs. They continued to perform well after that as well and won the third ODI before handing a 3-0 loss to the Lankans in the T20I games. It seemed that the performance of the 30-year-old in the whole series increased his followers as Patil stated that he is a better limited-overs player.

Before going on a break during the Sri Lanka series, Kohli led the side terrifically throughout the year. In the longest format of the game, the Delhi cricketer scored 1059 runs in 10 matches at an average of 75.64 this year. In ODIs, Kohli scored 1,460 runs in 26 matches and sits on the top of the run-getters list of 2017. He averages 76.84 and has six hundred and seven half-centuries to his name. Rohit is not too far behind as he is at the second position with 1,140 runs in 21 matches and averages an incredible 71.83. He also has six hundreds, but has two lesser fifties than his captain.

"I'm sure Virat's going to come back from the 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," remarked the former India cricketer.