Would be a fool to be tempted to bat like Rohit Sharma, says KL Rahul

When Rohit Sharma is on song, not much is visible elsewhere in the ground. The ace opener picked up his fourth hundred of the ICC World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston on Tuesday and this time, the opponents were Bangladesh. Rohit got an early life and made full use of it to go on to pick his 26th ton in the ODIs. He also broke the record of Sourav Ganguly in scoring the maximum number of hundreds in a World Cup and matched the rare feat of former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara of hitting four tons in a single World Cup.

Riding on Rohit’s 92-ball 104, India posted a total of 314 for 9 in 50 overs and bowled out an obstinate Bangladesh for 286 to knock them out of the World Cup. With this win, India also completed the formalities of reaching the last four with one match to spare which is against Sri Lanka in Headingley on July 6.

Rohit was given a worthy company with KL Rahul for the opening wicket as the two put up 180 runs in 29.2 overs, replicating the feat of England openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow against India at the same venue on Sunday. Rahul, who has chipped in as the opener after Shikhar Dhawan’s ouster with a broken thumb, also played 92 balls but scored 77, his second fifty in this World Cup.

The 27-year-old batsman was all praise for Rohit after the latter’s match-winning innings earned India a significant win and himself his third man-of-the-match award of the tournament.

Rahul credits Rohit for helping him in making transition as an opener

Rahul, who has not been in the best of touch over some time, also credited Rohit for making the transition easy for him. “To bat with him is really easy because he takes the pressure off you. He keeps getting the boundaries and the scoreboard keeps ticking, I just have to keep there with him. It is great fun,” he said after the match.

He also aired a caution that it would be foolish to feel tempted to bat like Rohit. “You would be a fool to be tempted to bat like Rohit because he is in a different class, he is from a different planet altogether when he gets going,” the batsman, who had scored a hundred against Bangladesh at No.4 in the warm-up game ahead of the tournament and is a treat to watch when on song, said.

Also read – World Cup 2019: We march on, says Virat Kohli after India seal semis berth

Rahul has been criticised for not having converted the starts he got in some of the matches in big knocks. He scored 26 against South Africa, 57 against Pakistan, 30 against Afghanistan, 48 against the West Indies and now the 77 against Bangladesh. “Personally, I feel I have been going well, but am not fully satisfied as I haven’t carried on after some of the starts,” he added.