Indian cricket has been fortunate to witness legendary batters like Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli, among many others. Another exceptional player, especially in white-ball cricket, is Rohit Sharma, who has consistently scored runs since 2013 and scaled new heights in ODIs and T20Is with his brilliant batting. However, Sanjay Manjrekar has not included Rohit in the list of India's batting greats.
Rohit is one of the best batters to have ever played for India, but unfortunately, his Test career didn't last long despite sparkling performances in England at the start of this decade. His rise in the longest format came pretty in his career and a massive loss in form during the 2024-25 season in India and Australia led to him stepping away from the format. Manjrekar pointed out the same reason for not including India's ODI captain in the list of batting greats.
"Rohit Sharma does not fit in All Time Indian Batting Great list because we're talking about legends like Gavaskar (Sunil), Tendulkar (Sachin), Dravid (Rahul), and Virat (Kohli). Rohit does not quite make it there. His easy domination in limited-overs cricket was always pleasing, almost making 300 runs in one ODI innings. But when you talk of All Time Indian Batting Great, Test cricket holds more weightage, I don't think he made a big impact in that format," Manjrekar said while speaking on The Great Indian Cricket Show on Doordarshan.
Sanjay Manjrekar lauds Rohit's selflessness
However, the 60-year-old lauded the selflessness the Indian ODI skipper showed during the World Cup at home in 2023. For the unversed, Rohit Sharma played a lot of cameos at the top of the order during the mega event, helping India get off to a bright start.
"But if you look at one-day cricket, selflessness, or captainship, then you have to mention Rohit Sharma. Especially after the 2023 World Cup, the love people have for him is on another level. People saw that he was never thinking about himself; he was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the team’s advantage. That's his real specialty," Manjrekar added.
Also Read
