Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar had nothing but praise for Rohit Sharma as the veteran opener played a captain's knock to help the ICC World Cup hosts hammer defending champions England by 100 runs on Sunday. Even though Rohit missed out on slamming the 32nd hundred, the Indian captain's 54th One Day International (ODI) half-century sealed India's comfortable win over Jos Buttler and Co. at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
India captain Rohit smashed 10 fours and three sixes in his sublime knock of 87 off 101 balls against England at Lucknow. Rohit's 87-run knock followed by Suryakumar's 49 off 47 balls lifted India to 229-9 on a tricky Lucknow surface. While England batters struggled to get going in Lucknow, ex-cricketer Manjrekar feels that India skipper Rohit propelled the hosts to a memorable win by playing one of the greatest innings in the history of ODI cricket.
'This knock is one of the greatest ODI innings'
"When we talk about Rohit Sharma's ODI batting and his greatness, we talk about the three double hundreds, and he scored a quick hundred recently as well. But according to me, this knock is one of the greatest ODI innings. There are two or three reasons for that - the pitch was slightly tricky in the afternoon, the bowling challenge was quite good, the tactics Jos Buttler used were also high quality, and India were under pressure," Manjrekar told Star Sports.
What records did Rohit create in Lucknow?
{{/usCountry}}"When we talk about Rohit Sharma's ODI batting and his greatness, we talk about the three double hundreds, and he scored a quick hundred recently as well. But according to me, this knock is one of the greatest ODI innings. There are two or three reasons for that - the pitch was slightly tricky in the afternoon, the bowling challenge was quite good, the tactics Jos Buttler used were also high quality, and India were under pressure," Manjrekar told Star Sports.
What records did Rohit create in Lucknow?
{{/usCountry}}On Sunday, skipper Rohit completed 18,000 runs in international cricket during India's match against England at the ICC World Cup. The senior batter became the fifth Indian to amass 18,000 runs after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Kohli. Skipper Rohit also recorded his 100th appearance as India's captain across formats. The 36-year-old is also India's leading run-getter (398) in the 2023 edition of the ICC World Cup after six matches.
'This artistry sets Rohit Sharma apart'
"You might remember a shot he played, I think off Adil Rashid's bowling, it was an extremely small gap, and he hit a drive with power to find the boundary. Then he hit Moeen Ali over mid-off against the turn. This artistry sets Rohit Sharma apart. It's not only Rohit, six or seven Indian players are at their peak. We talk about generation gap but nowadays there is a huge gap between India's cricket and the other teams' cricket," Manjrekar added.