India captain Rohit Sharma is regarded as one of the best white-ball batters of his generation. But he wasn’t this menacing when he first started out. In fact, he only had two centuries in his first six years of ODI cricket. When then-captain MS Dhoni promoted him as an opener in 2013, his career took a decisive turn. He seized the opportunity and embarked on his journey to becoming a white-ball giant.
Gautam Gambhir is known for being a staunchly opinionated cricket pundit who has been very critical and blatant in his talking. There is no doubt that Rohit Sharma is one of the best white-ball batters of the modern era, but the question is whether a comparison between two greats from different eras is appropriate.
The 41-year-old was seen narrating Rohit’s ODI records and praising him during a pre-match show on Star Sports before the start of the 2nd ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
“He definitely got about 20 hundreds in the last five-six-seven years” – Gautam Gambhir on Rohit Sharma
“The surprising fact is that in the last four or five years he has gotten this many hundreds. Rohit Sharma before the last five-six years was not this consistent. He definitely got about 20 hundreds in the last five-six-seven years,” Gautam Gambhir stated.
Gambhir’s sudden comparison of Rohit Sharma with Ricky Ponting was of such high magnitude that it took fellow panelist and former India cricketer Sanjay Majrekar completely by shock.
“You missed that,” Manjrekar said to attract the host’s attention.
“No, he is a better player than Ricky Ponting. because Ricky has got a sh** record in the subcontinent,” Gautam Gambhir added.
Looking at both Ponting and Sharma’s performances in the subcontinent, Rohit has an even spread of centuries. Outside of the subcontinent, he has 13 ODI hundreds and an average of 47, which is only one lower than his overall career average. Ponting, on the other hand, shows little difference on average. In one-day internationals played in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, the former Australian averages 41. However, there is a significant difference in his century’s column. Ponting has only six of his 30 ODI centuries in the subcontinent.
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