Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik showered praise on Rohit Sharma after the third ODI against the West Indies, which the visitors won by five wickets at New Chandigarh on Saturday. Rohit continued his rich form in the final game, scoring a crucial knock of 92 runs off 85 balls.
India had lost two early wickets of Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli and thus Rohit decided to play according to the match situation. Karthik reckons a young Rohit Sharma might have made a mistake of trying to up the ante a bit too early than he did on Saturday.
Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz, “The beauty of having experience is he would have seen such situations before. He was playing at 50 strike rate for the first 40 balls because he knows he can trust himself to make it up. And he did just that in the space of 40 balls. It was his game sense at the start, and having that conviction is what comes from experience. Many players would have tried to do something different, thinking that they were batting too slowly. A young Rohit Sharma would have made that mistake.”
“But today, he has a wealth of experience and brought it to the fore. The same thing could happen in South Africa, and that’s when the experience of a Rohit, Virat or Shubman will come through.”
The Indian opener had also scored an impressive knock of 101 runs off 75 balls in the second ODI at Guwahati in the run chase of 406. Sharma scored 225 runs in three ODIs against the West Indies at an average of 75 and a strike rate of 115.38.
On the other hand, Karthik also praised Ruturaj Gaikwad for scoring 57 runs off 69 balls in the final game. Gaikwad lived a charmed life as he was given three chances by the West Indies fielders with Shai Hope, Amir Jangoo and Vitel Lawes dropping his catch.
“Being Ruturaj is hard right now. You know your chances are few and far between, and every time you get an opportunity, you have to make the most of it. I am very sure that he would have been nervous. Though he was lucky, he fought it out there and didn’t give it away easily. He did everything possible to tell the management that he’s ready whenever they require him,” said Karthik (via the aforementioned source).
India will next take on the West Indies in a five-match T20I series, starting Tuesday.
