I would've loved to play aggressively like Rohit Sharma in my days, insists Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar has stated that he would have loved to bat like Rohit Sharma, who plays aggressively from first over in all three formats, during his days as an Indian opener. Gavaskar felt that circumstances and a lack of confidence in his ability stopped him from doing that in his playing days.
Gavaskar was known to put a price on his wicket, playing long innings and anchoring the Indian batting line-up during his illustrious career. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, is known for his tendency to decimate bowling attacks and is often rated as the best limited-overs batsman in the world.
Rohit has scored 9,115 runs in ODI cricket with 29 centuries while his career tally of 2773 runs in T20Is makes him the highest scorer in the format. He hasn't had the same success in Test cricket but he smashed 529 runs against South Africa at home in 2019. It was also the first time he had opened the innings in the longest form of the game.
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was also the first batsman to reach 10,000 career runs in Test cricket, said that he wanted to play aggressively like Rohit Sharma during his playing days but the circumstances and lack of confidence in his ability dictated his gritty batting style. He further added that he enjoys the progress that the current generation has made, setting higher standards for the next generation.
"The way you see a Rohit Sharma opening the batting in one-day cricket, Test cricket, smashing from the first over. That is what I wanted to play. Circumstances and of course lack of confidence in my ability did not allow me to do that. But when I see the next generation doing it, I am absolutely over the moon. I love watching the next generation because there you see progress. You see how they are setting the bar higher for the next generation," Gavaskar told India Today.