Rohit Sharma picks his top 5 India batsmen of all time

Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag all made the list but Rohit included the caveat that these are the players that he has seen in action.

Indian cricket team batsman Rohit Sharma was asked to pick the top five India batsman and he decided to include five modern legends in his name. Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag all made the list but Rohit included the caveat that these are the players that he has seen in action and names likes Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath would have been part of an all-time list.

Rohit Sharma in action.(ANI)

“When I was young, I had seen no one other than paaji (Sachin). Then later, I started following other cricketers. There was Rahul (Dravid) bhai who scored a lot of hundreds in the England series of 2002. I think there were a lot of good knocks in that series. Then there is Viru (Virender Sehwag) bhai. The way he batted at the top of the innings was enough to kill half of the bowlers’ confidence. Then, of course, there is VVS Laxman and Dada (Sourav Ganguly). These are the top five that I have seen,” he said during the Instagram Live interaction.

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Rohit added that the target for him is to help the Indian team win two of the three World Cups they are slated to be part of in the near future.India are scheduled to take part in the 2020 T20 World Cup later this year in Australia followed by another T20 World Cup in India next year. Then there is the 2023 50-over World Cup. India, led by Virat Kohli, lost in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup to New Zealand.

“We know we have three World Cups coming up. Among the three World Cups, we should win atleast two. That is my goal,” Rohit said during an Instagram chat with ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

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Rohit also said the Indian team is working on giving players a longer rope and backing them to express themselves over a period of time. “We do talk about backing players and giving them a longer run. We are trying to give players batting at No 5,6,7 a longer rope,” he said.

“I understand the captain (Virat Kohli) and head coach (Ravi Shastri) are under pressure to pick team while others are sitting out,” he added.

(With agency inputs)