Rohit Sharma has now become the first choice for the Test opener. The Test series against South Africa saw him as an appropriate opener for the Indian team. He scored 529 runs in the three-match Test series at an average of 132.25 against South Africa. He struck three centuries in that Test series, including one double century.
After his heroic innings as Test opener against Proteas, he was compared with the former Indian opener Virender Sehwag. Sehwag was the master in Test cricket as an opener. He was famous for playing furious innings in Test cricket. Rohit Sharma also didn’t hesitate to strike boundaries. He hit 19 sixes and 62 fours in the three-match Test series against South Africa.
However, Rohit Sharma didn’t agree with his comparison to Sehwag. It is the perception of people, he said in an interview on Wednesday.
“It is people’s perception that we bat in a similar fashion and all that. But Sehwag is Sehwag. What he has done is remarkable. For me what will be important is what the team is expecting me to do, if I am able to do that I’ll be more than happy. Of course, Sehwag played in a way he loved to, and the team wanted him to play. It is the same situation for me here as well. I want to play in that fashion where the team wants me to play. And if I am able to do that, I solve a lot of problems.”
I felt that this might come to me: Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma got the chance as the Test Opener after a long time. Before the Test series against South Africa, he has mostly played as a middle-order batsman. But after KL Rahul‘s low performances, Rohit Sharma got the chance as the Test opener.
“See, the talk was happening for a long, long time. But all these guys were doing well and you suddenly don’t want to change that and get somebody who has not done that before,” he said.
“Now that they tried a lot of players and wanted someone else to do it, that is why this happened. I know that if one of the openers, or a few of them, were doing well, I would not have got this opportunity. But somewhere down the line, I felt that this might come to me. So far, so good, there are a lot of challenges ahead and I’m looking forward to them.”
Waited for long to play the day-night Test match
Sourav Ganguly, the new president of BCCI, has introduced the day-night Test match in India. The Indian team will play their first game in a pink ball against Bangladesh during the Kolkata Test. Rohit Sharma opines that he has played a pink-ball game in Duleep trophy in 2016. He has claimed that he is looking forward to playing the day-night Test match.
“I’ve played in a (pink ball) Duleep Trophy game (in 2016) but batted down the order. It was a new experience. We’ve waited for long and now have the opportunity,” Rohit said.