A modern day batsman delights Rohit Sharma every time he bats

They have both been among the most destructive batsmen in world cricket in contemporary times but the on-field rivalry has not faded the mutual respect between them. At least not for Rohit Sharma, the dashing Indian opener. The ace cricketer revealed during a chat on social media on September 1 the name of his favourite cricketer from the current generation who he feels delighted to watch.

Sharma, who has been picked as India’s captain for the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE, engaged with the fans on Twitter during the interaction run with the hashtag #AskRo. There, one fan asked him to name his favourite players from the current generation and Sharma was quick with his answer. It is AB de Villiers – the fiery batsman from South Afric who recently decided to call it quits.

@ABdeVilliers17

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) September 1, 2018

Rohit Sharma vs AB de Villiers in numbers

Though a disappointment in Tests, 31-year-old Sharma has been one of India’s most prolific scorers in the limited-over versions. Owner of three double centuries in the 50-over formats and three hundreds in T20Is, Sharma has scored over 8,000 runs in the 50- and 20-over formats combined. His highest score of 264 scored against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 2014 is still the best in the 50-over variant.

De Villiers, on the other hand, has scored over 11,000 runs in 306 limited-over matches (ODIs and T20Is) with 25 tons in the 50-over formats. However, he has made a bigger impact on the game in the Test arena, scoring 8,765 runs from 114 games at an average of above 50. Sharma, in comparison, has played in just 25 Tests in which he scored 1,479 runs at an average of below 40. He has been repeatedly overlooked even for India’s second-string teams for long-version games which gives an idea that Indian selectors have decided to put him behind in Tests.

In terms of strike rates in ODIs, de Villiers has a lead over Sharma (101.09 to 87.18) but in the T20Is, it is the Indian who does better than the South African (137.05 to 135.16).

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