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Cricket Players'100s have to be incidental...': Sanjay Manjrekar gives huge verdict on Rohit Sharma's performance after NZ ODIs
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reflected on Rohit Sharma's sublime knock in the 3rd ODI between India and New Zealand. Rohit slammed his 30th ODI ton in the third and final ODI of the recently concluded series at Indore.
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar was pleased to see Team India dishing out another clinical performance in the World Cup year on Tuesday. After taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series against New Zealand, Rohit Sharma and Co. crushed the Black Caps in the dead rubber at Indore's Holkar Cricket Stadium. Starring in India's comfortable win over the Tom Latham-led side, skipper Rohit and opener Shubman Gill put up a record opening partnership against New Zealand in ODI cricket.
While opener Gill notched up his fourth ODI ton, skipper Rohit ended his long wait for a century in the 50-over format. The veteran opener smashed his first century in three years as India posted a gigantic total in the third and final encounter of the bilateral series at Indore. Reflecting on Rohit's batting masterclass, former cricketer Manjrekar lauded the Indian skipper for playing an instrumental role in India's 90-run win over the Kiwis at Indore.
"I like this Rohit Sharma, in this T20s as well. This is the way to play. 100s have to be incidental, they have to be the byproduct of the way which you play and when India sets a platform like that, despite a collapse, India had a lot of runs on the board. This is the Rohit Sharma I like," Manjrekar told Star Sports.
Rohit smashed 101 off 85 balls as India posted a match-winning total of 385-9 in the 50-over contest. The 35-year-old matched Ricky Ponting's incredible feat of 30 ODI centuries at Indore. Rohit is only behind Sachin Tendulkar (49) and Virat Kohli (46) in the list of batters with the most ODI centuries. The Indian skipper has amassed 9,782 runs in 241 ODIs for the two-time world champions.
“New Zealand were missing three or four key players but that does not take anything away from India, especially tonight, where they lost the toss. India put the runs on the board, so much so that it almost makes the opposition chase the total down despite the dew advantage. This is something that you can keep looking at and enjoy. When a team is sent to bat first after losing the toss, the team that bats second generally gets very close but look at the margin today - a win by 90 runs. So well done by the batters and the bowlers,” Manjrekar added.
