Former Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar suggests that the match against England during the World Cup 2023 was one of the greatest ODI innings.
Sanjay Manjrekar on Rohit’s stunning knock against England
Rohit Sharma smashed an impressive knock of 87 runs on 101 deliveries in the match against England where men in blues won the match with a 100 runs difference. He was named as the Player of the Match.
With the victory they run an unbeaten streak with winning all six matches they’ve played so far in the tournament. On scoring 229 runs, India folded Jos Buttler & co for 129 runs and climbed to the top of the table.
During a discussion in the media, the former cricketer was asked about the performance of the Indian skipper in the match which he answered, “When we talk about Rohit Sharma’s ODI batting and his greatness, we talk about the three double hundreds, and he scored a quick hundred recently as well. But according to me, this knock is one of the greatest ODI innings.”
He pointed out that Jos Buttler’s impressive tactics helped their bowlers to put pressure against Indian batters.
“There are two or three reasons for that – the pitch was slightly tricky in the afternoon, the bowling challenge was quite good, the tactics Jos Buttler used were also high quality, and India were under pressure.”
India had a poor start as England bowlers had dismissed three wickets early as India scored only 40 by the end of the 12th over. Sanjay lauded Rohit Sharma on his knock against England spinners.
“You might remember a shot he played, I think off Adil Rashid’s bowling, it was an extremely small gap, and he hit a drive with power to find the boundary. Then he hit Moeen Ali over mid-off against the turn. This artistry sets Rohit Sharma apart.”
He also pointed out almost seven players are at their peak. He spoke about the generation gap and India is ahead of other teams.
“It’s not only Rohit, six or seven Indian players are at their peak. We talk about the generation gap but nowadays there is a huge gap between India’s cricket and the other teams’ cricket.”
He added that Rohit is at the top in considering the range of shots despite not being the top scorer in the tournament. He also said that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami are the best of their kind and no other seamers could match them in the Ongoing World Cup.
India will be playing their next World Cup match against Sri Lanka on November 02 at Wankhede Stadium.
