IND vs SA | Rohit Sharma is taking revenge on himself now, feels Shoaib Akhtar
Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar believes that Rohit Shrma is taking revenge on himself by making up for the late start that he has had to his Test career as an opener. The Indian batsman has amassed three centuries in just four innings against South Africa, one of which was a double hundred.
Rohit had made his Test debut way back in 2013 in Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series scoring two hundred in two matches and beginning his Test career with a bang. But then followed India's tours to South Africa and New Zealand where his poor technique was exposed by the quicks. Subsequently, he was dropped from the side and he limited himself to be a white-ball specialist for India.
KL Rahul's dismal form and Hanuma Vihari sealing his spot and number six in the West Indies tour gave the Indian team management an option to try Rohit at the top of the order. And the Mumbaikar has grabbed this opportunity with both hands, scoring three centuries including a double ton in his four innings as a Test opener.
"Now, everyone will admit that Rohit Sharma was a great batsman and is a great batsman. He collected runs at will in limited-overs cricket. However, he realized that he was missing out on bigger action - Test cricket," Akhtar said in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
Akhtar believes that for a one-day batsman to be successful in Test format, one needs to only work on the mental side. The playing style should always remain the same as it was in one-day. He believes Rohit has now realized his true potential as a Test opener. Rohit backed himself to play his shots even in red-ball format, in the same way as the great Virender Sehwag did.
One of the main issues with Rohit prior to this series was that he tried to alter his natural game when it came to the bigger format, something that was not right. One must always back his natural game to be successful in any form of the game.
"I think Rohit Sharma is now realizing what he is capable of. He is batting in one-day style only. He is hitting big sixes and scoring freely. He is now taking revenge from his own self," he said.
Akhtar feels that Rohit Sharma has missed out on about five-six years of consistent Test cricket. The speedster believes that he still is capable to make up for the lost years as he seems to have found his mojo now.
"He now wants to make it up for the time he has lost by not playing Test cricket in the last five years. Had he played Test cricket, he would have easily scored 8000-9000 runs by now," said Akhtar.
Steve Smith showed some unbelievable form in the Ashes. But Akhtar believes that Rohit is an even better batsman than Smith and that he can score thousand runs in a Test series, breaking Steve Smith's record if he is at his absolute best. He believes that now Rohit Sharma is truly on his way to becoming a great batsman in Test cricket.
"If he continues playing in the form he is playing, he can easily break Steve Smith's record and score a thousand runs in a Test series. Finally, Rohit has arrived in Test cricket and will now become a brand," he concluded.
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