India opener Rohit Sharma
Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has heaped praise on Rohit Sharma's knock at Lord's in the second Test against England, saying that the senior Indian opener did a commendable job in the first innings.
In a brisk Test knock comprising a flurry of fours against Sam Curran and a six off Mark Wood's short delivery, Rohit scored 83 off 145 balls to put India in a commanding position at the home of cricket.
“In a five-day Test match, no one has an idea as to how the pitch will behave on the first-day things like whether there is life on this pitch, will the ball bounce more? For that, you need some time and the adjustment Rohit Sharma showed in the first innings, how to do it,” said Gavaskar on Sony Sports.
“He did it brilliantly what shots to play and whatnot. Just see how many balls he left, some of them close to the off stump. This adjustment is mental and that is what Rohit accomplished.
Teaming up with fellow opener KL Rahul, Rohit defended the first hour to blunt the English attack in the rain-marred first session. Rohit and Rahul stitched a 126-run opening stand before the former was castled by paceman James Anderson.
Rohit may have missed out on his first overseas ton but Gavaskar feels reaching a three-figure mark at iconic Lord's "isn't everything".
“And this is what gives us hope from a player. If you get a player who can guarantee score 80 runs, then in a five-Test series, he would end up with 400-450 runs. What else does a captain need? Yes, he would be disappointed not scoring a century, but getting a century at Lord’s isn’t everything," Gavaskar further said.
