Mitchell McClenaghan was awstruck after Rohit Sharma's blistering hundred

New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan turned out to be an admirer of the 30-year old Indian opener Rohit Sharma. The Kiwi pacer congratulated Rohit on his match-winning hundred against Australia in the 5th ODI in Nagpur. Sharma scored a brilliant 125 off 109 deliveries, including 11 boundaries and 5 sixes. He along with Ajinkya Rahane provided a solid start to the Indian innings.

McClenaghan, who plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL was impressed with his skipper’s gritty knock. Mitchell surely got a feel of Rohit’s silken drives and the sharp cuts during the net sessions in the IPL but to watch it live against Australia is a different thing all together.

India successfully chased Australia’s target of 243 without breaking a sweat, apart from Sharma, his partner Ajinkya Rahane played a good hand of 61 off 74 balls. Australia had no answer to Sharma’s stroke play, as the hosts sealed a victory with 43 balls to spare.

Sharma was adjudged the man of the match for being the difference between the two sides.  Post the game, he said “It was just a bit of cramping. Obviously it’s been very hot here. I’ve always kept it very simple. Not to complicate things too much. Since I’ve started opening, I’ve always kept things simple. There are certain areas I still need to work on – I know my strengths and weaknesses and I try to work around that. Initially it was tough. They came on to the stumps compared to the first few games, and the wicket wasn’t playing too good either. Once I got my eye in, it was just about rotating and staying ahead of the run rate all the time. I would love to have such a record against all the teams. I’ve always loved playing against this Australian team – they are very competitive, they never give away anything easily.”