Graeme Swann : Rohit Sharma Is The Standout Player For Mumbai Indians
Oct 2, 2020 at 3:56 PM
Graeme Swann, the former England spinner said it is an absolute joy to watch Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma in full flow as he was the standout player during their win over Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 contest in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
Graeme Swann said that he is not the same Rohit Sharma anymore, but still gets the job done with the bat for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Rohit Sharma top scored with 70 as MI won against KXIP by 48 runs.
Graeme Swann: Rohit Sharma Is Standout Player Who Is Beautiful To Watch
Graeme Swann’s comments came after Rohit Sharma celebrated his entry into the 5000-runs club joining the likes of Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli in the elite list with a free-flowing 70 against Kings XI Punjab. Rohit Sharma hit 3 sixes and 8 boundaries as he laid the foundation for Mumbai Indians following which big hitters Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya got the finishing job done to help the team post a match-winning total of 191 in 20 overs.
Rohit Sharma became only the 3rd batsman after RCB’s Virat Kohli and CSK’s Suresh Raina in the history of the IPL to go past 5000 runs. After a slow start to the tournament, Rohit Sharma has hit two fifties and both of them have come in match-winning situations in Abu Dhabi. He scored 80 and 70 against KKR and KXIP respectively.
“It’s Rohit Sharma (stand out player). He is beautiful to watch and you know he is going to come good. Even though he is not the super thin Rohit Sharma that he was 5-10 years ago, he is still doing it,” Swann told Star Sports in a post-match show on Thursday.
“He is an old guard now. Most of these young guys would have grown up with posters of him on their walls, they are now batting with him. He is an absolute joy to watch when in good form.”
Former Indian batting coach all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was also in awe of Rohit Sharma as he likened the MI skipper to a pianist who times his shots perfectly.
“He was taking a threat to his needle, such was his timing, such was his placement. Not a single shot where you could say he was not timing it. His notes were beautiful, like a pianist.”
Rohit Sharma has amassed 170 runs in 4 matches. He has 5068 runs in 192 matches averaging a decent 31.87 with 1 century and 38 fifties. Virat Kohli leads the all-time leading run-scorer list in IPL with 5430 runs and is followed by Suresh Raina with 5368 runs and Rohit Sharma with 5068 runs so far.
Graeme Swann Praises Jasprit Bumrah And Predicts A Big IPL From Him
Meanwhile, Graeme Swann was all praise for MI pacer Jasprit Bumrah who came back strongly with a match-winning spell of 2 for 18 in his quota of 4 overs. He was leaking runs at the death in the last 3 matches but the pacer was spot on against KXIP. He got the big wicket of in-form Mayank Agarwal in his 1-over first spell and came back to deny KXIP any chance of getting past the finish line.
“Class is permanent and that’s been showing tonight. He did not have a great start to the tournament. But even the best players in the world, trust me they need a bit of confidence. He will be brilliant now. I predict a big, big IPL from this point for Jasprit Bumrah,” Swann said.
Jasprit Bumrah has so far picked 5 wickets at a decent average of 27 with his best figures of 2/18 in MI’s last match against KXIP so far.