Rohit and Kohli defining players for India in modern era, insists Kumar Sangakkara
Kohli and Rohit are two best ODI players currently
Kumar Sangakkara has stated that there is something special about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and the duo have been two defining players for the Indian side in the current era. The legendary Sri Lankan keeper has further added that the duo’s simple style of play has made them mighty effective.
Indian cricket has been incredibly lucky in the sense that they have had some legendary and phenomenal cricketers in their history of the game, almost like a knock-on, to mark the eras with single-handed dominance. Be it a certain Vijay Merchant or Sunil Gavaskar, be it a Kapil Dev or Sachin Tendulkar, be it a Mohammed Azharuddin or MS Dhoni, there have been numerous tales of cricketing demigods in India.
Just like that, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma marked modern-day cricket with so much dominance, with the duo being so much better when it comes to white-ball cricket. Kumar Sangakkara stated that their dominance has given Indian cricket so many wins and memories.
"There is something very special about Virat and Rohit. That fact that rules have changed and run-scoring might have become slightly easier in one-day cricket, but it's incredibly hard, the volume of cricket that India athletes play. So, I think you have to have a lot of respect for Rohit and Virat but understand that it's all because of the players that have gone before and have done all the hard work then as well," Sangakkara said on Star Sports' 'Cricket Connected', reported ToI.
"So, it's a knock-on effect, so in every era, there's always a defining pair and in the modern era, it's Rohit and Virat for India for sure. If you look at Rahul and Dada, both of them are orthodox batsmen. They play beautiful cricket shots and are very technically correct. Dravid may be a little bit more so, but the ability to be as destructive with such rate and precision stroke-making is something that has to be really admired.”
While speaking about the yore, Sangakkara, who had a ring-side view of Indian cricket, first as a cricketer who played against India more than any country and secondly for his association in the Indian Premier League, applauded Rohit and Kohli for the music they bring with their orthodoxy.
"If you take the modern-day game, India has two of the best players in Virat and Rohit, who play orthodox cricket but who are just absolutely destructive in any format of the game. You don't have to muscle the ball or put too much effort or look ugly doing it, they just play good cricket shots and results come," he concluded.
