Legendary Sunil Gavaskar was delighted after Rohit Sharma scored a fine century against Afghanistan in the ongoing World Cup 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday. Rohit scored a whirlwind knock of 131 runs off just 84 balls with the help of 16 fours and five maximums.
The Indian skipper was able to get off the blocks in a jiffy while chasing 273 runs as he completed his fifty off just 30 balls. Gavaskar was happy that Rohit completed his hundred because he had missed out on a lot of well-deserved centuries.
It was a night of breaking record for Rohit Sharma as he scored a 63-ball century, the fastest for India in World Cup history, breaking former captain Kapil Dev’s record of 72-ball hundred. Rohit broke a few more records during his 84-ball 131-run knock as he became the joint-fastest to score 1000 runs (19 innings) with David Warner in the World Cup.
This was Rohit’s seventh century in the World Cup, the most for any batter as he went past Sachin Tendulkar’s record and his 31st ODI hundred as he overtook former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting’s tally. Furthermore, Rohit overtook Chris Gayle’s record of most sixes in International cricket.
Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports, “I’m very happy that he got a hundred because he missed out on a lot of hundreds.”
“With him, he is a risk taker. And therefore sometimes, what happens is, in the 60s, 70s – look at the number of times – where he got the team off to a flying start with half-centuries. But he wants to carry on in the same way because it benefits the team. For example, today, you get that (run rate of) 8 runs per over.”
The Little Master continued to shower praise on Rohit Sharma for playing aggressively and not worrying about personal milestones.
“The strike rate, it helps your net run rate. Who knows what’s gonna happen? After another 5-6 matches. You might need those decimal points to qualify. So clearly, he might have missed out on a few hundred, but he entertained all of us. And today was another special occasion. Some of the sixes that he hit, are just unbelievable,” Gavaskar stated.
Asked to pick Rohit’s best century in the World Cup, Gavaskar compared the Indian skipper with former swashbuckling batter Virender Sehwag.
“Every century of his is a delight to watch. Because there is that ease with which he seems to be caressing the ball when he is hitting the ball along the ground. Very few batters have the ability to pull, off the front foot that he does. Same thing with Virender Sehwag, Viru was also similar. The opening batter goes bang-bang and scores 60s-70s, 80s,” Gavaskar said.
India will play their next match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday.
