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'Rohit Sharma is not celebrated enough...': Dinesh Karthik's monumental remark about IND captain before 2nd Test vs AUS
Reflecting on Rohit Sharma's batting masterclass in the Nagpur Test, Indian wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik highlighted the phenomenal batting record of the star opener in India.
Before Rohit Sharma served a timely reminder to Australia on how to bat on a turning pitch, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri had already predicted that the form of the veteran opener will dictate the outcome of the high-profile Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Just like former Indian all-rounder Shastri, veteran wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik has no doubts that all-format captain Rohit is a world-class batter in the modern era.
A walking nightmare for premier bowlers in white-ball formats, Rohit was promoted to the Test opener's slot in 2019. Since reviving his Test career in the South Africa series, Rohit has lived up to the ‘Hitman’ tag as an opener in red-ball cricket. Even though his Test captaincy stint has been curtailed by injuries, Rohit has remained keen on being the face of India's world-class top order.
The senior batter slammed his first Test ton as captain in the series opener of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Nagpur. Reflecting on Rohit's batting masterclass in Nagpur, Indian wicketkeeper Karthik highlighted the phenomenal batting record of the star opener in India. When it comes to playing the longest format, Rohit has the second-highest batting average as an opening batter. The Indian skipper (57.65) is only behind Herbert Sutcliffe, who averaged 61.10 in 83 innings.
“There is no doubt about that, I think he is a world-class batsman. He is arguably one of the best batsmen across formats that have played for the country. He recently with his hundred goes on to become the 1st Indian captain to score a hundred in all formats. His record in India is upwards of 75 which is a phenomenal average to have. And the moment he shifted from being a middle-order batsman to an opener in white-ball cricket, things changed dramatically and in Test cricket, the landscape of what he has become as a batsman has changed phenomenally," Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Recording his fourth Test appearance as India's captain, Rohit slammed his 9th century in red-ball cricket at Nagpur. The 35-year-old also became the first Indian skipper to score centuries across all formats. Rohit top-scored for Team India with a brilliant knock of 120 off 212 balls as the hosts thrashed Australia by 132 runs in the Nagpur Test on Saturday.
"You can see, he enjoys batting. He relishes the opportunity to bat fast bowlers first up and then go on to play spinners. He is someone who is very special to India and I sometimes feel, he is not celebrated enough as a Test opener. He has got a lot of credentials in white-ball format. People speak about his accolades in the white-ball format. But as a Test opener, he has been really good in the limited time that he has done it,” Karthik added.
The Indian skipper has an incredible average of 75.2 which is the second-best for any player (with a minimum of 30 innings) in Test cricket at home. Only legendary Don Bradman (98.22 in the 50 innings) had a better average than Rohit at home. The veteran batter has slammed eight hundreds and six half-centuries in 21 Test matches at home. In-form Rohit has accumulated 3257 runs in 46 Test matches for India. The swashbuckling batter will lead India in the 2nd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which will be contested at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.
