Rohit Sharma's technique better than Virender Sehwag: Shoaib Akhtar

The brouhaha around Rohit Sharma and his tryst with opening the batting in Test cricket took a historic turn in the 1st Test at Vizag against South Africa. The Indian white-ball cricket vice-captain ushered into his new innings by smashing back-to-back hundreds (176 & 127) and a plethora of sixes (13) to etch his name into multiple record books.

And as usual, fans, pundits went into overdrive, writing editorials, posting tweets, videos to congratulate Rohit. The latest to join the spree is Shoaib Akhtar. In his latest Youtube video, Akhtar reminisced about a discussion he had with Rohit back in 2013 and also went on to compare him with Virender Sehwag.

Rohit’s technique better than Sehwag

“Apka Naam kya hai?” Shoaib Akhtar reminisced asking Rohit Sharma his name back in Bangladesh in 2013 before asking him to add G- for Greatness before his name. “I had asked Rohit to add a G, for Great, before his name and play with a mindset that he is the best batsman in India,” Akhtar said.

Akhtar further added that he asked Rohit Sharma to instill some confidence in himself as a Test cricketer so that he can become the biggest brand in cricket. Akhtar also went on to address the criticism that Sharma has received in the past for being unable to nail down his spot in the Test side. According to Akhtar, the biggest reason why Rohit didn’t find the same amount of success in Tests like white-ball cricket was that he tried to change his natural game and do something that doesn’t come naturally to him.

“According to me, the problem in the past was not that he didn’t have the technique to survive in 5-day cricket, the problem was that he tried to become a Test batsman, doing things that do not come naturally to him.”

Moreover, Akhtar compared Rohit with the legendary Virender Sehwag. Drawing parallels with the former legendary Indian opener, Akhtar alluded that Sehwag’s success lay in his insatiable desire to attack the bowlers from the outset and that the 32-year-old Sharma has a better technique than Sehwag.

The former Pakistani fast bowler, who is a self-confessed Rohit fan, signed off by saying that Rohit’s knock at Visakhapatnam was a vindication that he has put all those thoughts behind him. “Now you can see when Rohit put this thought out of his mind, he scored a century,” Akhtar added.

Watch the video here: