Rahul Dravid revealed the turning point in India captain Rohit Sharma’s career. Rahul Dravid also called Rohit Sharma a ‘phenomenal’ cricketer and a great servant of Indian cricket. India head coach Rahul Dravid revealed the turning point in Rohit Sharma’s career, saying the cricketer came into the limelight when he got the opportunity to open the innings.
Rohit Sharma opened India’s innings for the first time during the tour of South Africa in January 2011. The right-hander scored 23 runs in the third ODI against the Proteas. He started regularly opening the innings during the home series against England in 2013.
Rahul Dravid : Rohit Sharma Has Really Been A Great Servant Of Indian Cricket And Has Achieved His Potential; His Turning Point Came When He Opened For The First Time
In the last few innings, Rohit Sharma scored 27 and 51* (against Bangladesh), 83,17, and 42 (against Sri Lanka), 34 and 51 in the 1st two NZ vs IND ODIs. His last ODI ton came in January 2020 against Australia.
Since that ODI ton in 2020, Rohit Sharma has played 16 ODIs and has managed 5 fifties in that time, but his hundreds column is zero. He has gotten starts many times but has been unable to go on and score a hundred.
“He has been a phenomenal cricketer for India. I remember seeing him for the first time when he was 17 or 18, just came out of Under 19s, you could see him looking slightly different and he has gone on to prove that. You look at a lot of kids, who look different at 19 but not all of them go on to actually achieve their potential.”
“What Rohit has done over the last 15 years I think now has actually achieved his potential and really been a great servant of Indian cricket and done really well,” Rahul Dravid said in the press conference.
“Maybe for him in some ways, the turning point was when he got the opportunity to finally open and really his hallmark has been his performances in ICC tournaments that we saw in 2019 but also his ability that to score big runs, someone who has got three double hundreds in this format (ODI) is absolutely phenomenal achievement,” he added.
Rohit Sharma has registered three double ODI hundreds and so far featured in 240 ODI matches since making debut in June 2007. The right-hander has amassed 9681 runs, including 29 centuries and 48 fifties, at a strike rate of 89.66. Following the sacking of Virat Kohli as ODI captain of India, the BCCI handed the responsibility to Rohit Sharma.
Rohit Sharma Has Been Incredibly Successful : Rahul Dravid
Rohit Sharma, whose form saw a dip last year, has been scoring runs consistently. He scored 83, 17, 42, 34 and 51 in his last five outings in ODIs at home.
“He has been incredibly successful. He is someone who has got that kind of game. You can’t think of a kind of bowling to bowl to him. When he is playing well, you can’t bowl fast and short to him, he takes down spinners, he plays swing well. He has got a really good complete game. He has been a fantastic player for India, he has been batting really well for us. Even in last few games, it was terrific to watch him playing. Great to have him leading the side at the moment,” Dravid said.
In the ongoing 3rd inconsequential ODI against New Zealand, India is off to a flying start as the team is nearing 100 run mark without losing a wicket in only 12 overs. Opener Shubman Gill has already scored fifty while Rohit Sharma has scored above 40. Yuzvendra Chahal and Umran Malik replaced Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami in the final ODI to rest them before India vs Australia 4-match Test series.