Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir is known for placing his opinions on every crucial topic, and he often speaks straight from the shoulder. Be it regarding the take on 2011 World Cup or his ouster from the team, Gambhir has always issued statements quite boldly. Now, he has again expressed his honest opinion on the comparison between current Indian captain Virat Kohli and deputy Rohit Sharma concerning who is the better limited-over player.
In a candid chat with sports journalist Vikrant Gupta on ‘Sports Tak’ show, Gambhir expressed that Rohit has more impact in white-ball cricket than Kohli. The former Delhi player also added that he finds Rohit as the best limited-overs cricketer at the moment, but he is still not the all-time greatest.
“For me, white-ball cricket is all about impact. Kohli will end up getting many more runs than Rohit, and Kohli is among the greatest right now, but Rohit has an edge over Kohli because of the impact he has,” Gambhir was quoted as saying on the show.
Gambhir said that Rohit is the only player who when gets out after scoring a ton, people say that he missed out a double hundred.
“I think he (Rohit) is the best white-ball cricketer in the world right now. He is not the greatest overall, but at the moment he is the best. He is the only player to have hit 3 ODI double hundreds, 5 World Cup hundreds (in one edition) and he is also the only player, who once gets past 100-run mark, fans say that he missed a double century,” added the 38-year-old.
The cricketer-turned-politician further stated that it’s pretty hard to compare Rohit and Kohli as the latter has been a phenomenon in world cricket, but the kind of reputation Rohit has earned especially the way fans expect him to score double ton speaks everything.
“It is very difficult to compare both of them. Virat Kohli is unbelievable. His stats prove that. But when your reputation is such that when you get out after a hundred, people say he has missed out on double hundred, that speaks volumes about you,” Gambhir added further.
Speaking about both the cricketers then Rohit has so far appeared in 224 ODI matches and has scored 9115 at an average of 49.27. The 33-year-old has also smashed 29 hundreds and 43 fifties in the 50-over format. When it comes to T20Is, Rohit has clubbed 2273 runs in 108 games at a strike rate of 138.78.
Kohli, on the other hand, has accumulated 11,867 runs in 248 ODIs at an average of 59.33. The Indian’ run-machine’ has 43 centuries and 58 fifties to his name. In T20Is, Kohli is the leading run-scorer, having as much as 2794 runs in the account in 82 matches.
