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Sourav Ganguly lauds Rohit Sharma, wants Virat Kohli to pick him in South Africa

Utkarsh Bhatla
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Sourav Ganguly

Rohit Sharma’s double hundred yesterday signified a paradigm shift in our game, one that probably we were not ready for, or probably will never be. For long, a ‘hundred’ has been touted as the ultimate achievement for a batsman, a milestone that once achieved can be boasted about for years to come, but Rohit Sharma is changing the equation, and quickly.

Arguments about the game becoming a batsman dominated one have obviously surfaced again, but a player cannot necessarily change where the game is heading, and hence one shouldn’t belittle Rohit’s ODI achievements by stray arguments that question the balance between bat and ball.

Rohit is making sure that batsman round the world do not just aim for a hundred, but dream about going beyond, into territories that they never imagined themselves being in, something which presents a very exciting future for the game we all love.

The first two hundred that he scored changed himself as a batsman, as a player, this one is probably going to change the game forever.

And Sourav Ganguly too has signalled towards that, lauding the consistency of Rohit Sharma.

“What stands out to me is his consistency of getting double hundreds. The first one against Australia was a career-changing one and a batsman-changing one. When you get your first, you realise your potential and you know that you can do it again. He did that again at the Eden Gardens and got 264,” said Ganguly

“I don’t think this one is a career-changing knock for him but it’s a fabulous knock because he’s got another double hundred. The best thing is his consistency of getting double hundreds which is very, very important,” Ganguly added.

Sourav Ganguly hopes that Rohit can convert his ODI expertise into runs in the longest format of the game as well, where he could become India’s long term number 6. The South African tour will go a long way in deciding the future of Rohit Sharma as a Test batsman(i.e. if he is given a chance in the playing XI).

“Hopefully when he gets to play at the Cape Town Test, he gets a big score. And it will completely change his total career because there is now doubt about his T20 and one day abilities but I hope this will transform him as a complete player. I just can’t see such a quality player not doing well in all the three formats. He’s just 30, he has got lot of cricket left in him,” Ganguly said.

India tour South Africa in the first week of January and will be playing 3 Test Matches, 6 ODI’s and 3 T20s there.

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